Conor McGregor fans may have cause to get excited by the UFC's latest announcement, after doubts were raised that he would be returning this January.
Last month, the Notorious announced that he would be making his highly anticipated comeback to the octagon on January 18th, but the UFC's first quarter 2020 schedule did not include an event on that date.
However, the official announcement and advertising graphics of the promotion's first pay-per-view event of the new year, to take place in Heuston Texas on February 8th, has got his fans talking.
The event, which will be headlined by Jon Jones defending his light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes, was announced yesterday, but notably is not yet numbered meaning a January PPV could happen.
The fight was rumoured to be entitled UFC 246, and on some official UFC web pages is, which would all but rule out a McGregor return, as the Irishman would be unlikely to come back on a 'fight night' card.
But it is unusual for a pay-per-view with two title fights to be left without an official number upon its announcement.
His manager Audie Attar, speaking on ESPN, recently said: “I would say that talks have been progressing.
"We’ve met them, we’re in close communication with them. I would hope that an announcement could happen in the coming weeks, but at the end of the day, it’s still a work in progress."
The former featherweight and lightweight ruler has been out of action since he was choked out by 155lb king Khabib Nurmagomedov last year.
UFC chief Dana White said last month that he eager to see ‘The Notorious’ take on ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, he admits an agreement has yet to be reached.
“We have nothing done,” he told TMZ . “Nothing is even close to being done, so I hate to even talk about this stuff and say it because it might not happen.
“It might happen, but we’re looking at Cowboy.
“No3 vs No5, January 18 at the T-Mobile [Arena] in Las Vegas."
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