Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone will come face-to-face tonight at their UFC 246 press conference.
Expect fireworks as the combustible Irishman and former two-weight world champion prepares to make his return to the sport, having not fought since his submission defeat to long-term rival Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.
McGregror had been hoping to win back the UFC lightweight title but instead fell to a fourth career defeat and now needs to rebuild his career.
On Saturday night he will fight Cerrone, a UFC veteran with a 36-13 professional record. It won’t be an easy fight – but McGregor has to win if he is to have any hope of challenging Khabib again in the future.
Watch live video of the press conference above and follow live commentary and analysis below.
Live commentary:
Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon in Las Vegas on Saturday night where the Irishman takes on Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.
McGregor has not fought since his infamous bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018, which ended in a wild brawl.
He has vowed to seal victory on his comeback but will not be able to to take Cerrone lightly, an experienced fighter with the record of most finishes in UFC of 16.
McGregor has been unusually polite in the build-up to the fight, even praising his opponent’s pedigree. The pair will come face to face for the first time in their pre-fight press conference ahead of their much-anticipated battle.
Conor McGregor has revealed the series of events in the lead up to his defeat against Khabib Nurmagomedov that saw the Irishman drinking all week, competing in unprotected sparring and partying for days on end in celebration of knocking opponents out.
The 31-year-old suffered the second defeat of his UFC career when he submitted to Khabib in their October 2018 lightweight championship bout, which failed to end the pair’s bitter feud as the victor immediately leapt over the Octagon fence to attack the Irishman’s coaching team.
The Dagestani fighter was able to dominate McGregor like never before, cementing his place at the top of the lightweight rankings in the process, but McGregor has repeatedly insisted that he would win any rematch because of things that he did wrong in his preparations.
In the months before the fight, McGregor embarked on setting up his Proper No 12 Whiskey company, which led to many believing he had allowed himself too many distractions ahead of what was the toughest bout of his career.
But according to the Irishman himself, the events before UFC 229 were much worse than could have been expected. The Dublin-born fighter revealed on Monday night how he would invite fighters from a nearby hotel for brawls without headguards in a full-blooded sparring session, and upon winning head out for parties days on end.
“I was drinking all bleeding fight week,” McGregor told Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “I had venom in me or something.
“I had people holed up in a hotel and I would ring and arrange a fight, they would come to the gym and have a full-blown fight with no headguards.
“I'd have a war, win and knock the guy out and go off and celebrate and come back in three days.
“I wasn't doing what I should have been doing; I've made mistakes and I've been man enough to admit them.”
“He kept showing up and I wondered whether he would be able to do the type of training required again because, let’s call a spade a spade, he’d made a lot of money and it’s hard to go running when you wake up in silk underwear.
“But he did, he kept training and pushing himself hard and not just talking about, but showing that he wanted to compete at a high level again.”
“[It] depends if Cerrone comes and tries to grapple because he has a very good ground game, his ground game is very underrated.
“I’ve trained with him before, he has good takedown; he is very explosive to shoot the takedown. People don’t know that because he doesn’t use it much [but] he used it against Patrick Cote.
“If he does that, to weather the first couple minutes of the storm and McGregor’s powerful left hand, I think he can get it.
“I think if he wrestles in round one he has a good chance to win but, if he tries to play a boxing and karate game with McGregor, McGregor will knock him out… it’s hard.
“The odds are more towards McGregor but Cerrone can pull this off too. It’s at 170, [it’s] Cerrone [advantage] I think. McGregor looks big. I don’t know enough about McGregor but, from what I’ve seen is he is like a sniper.
“When you fight a sniper, you need to move, you need change levels, you need change angles, change [the] distance and I don’t know if Cerrone will do that.
“He is known to be a slow starter as usual, so if he doesn’t start right away hard with the speed he is going to get caught.”
Preview
When is the press conference?
McGregor and Cerrone will face off at a press conference on Wednesday at 5pm in Vegas, which will be 1am on Thursday in the UK.
How can I watch and stream the press conference?
The media event will be shown live on the UFC YouTube channel.
Where is it taking place?
The press conference is taking place at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
When is UFC 246?
UFC 246 takes place on Saturday 18 January 2020.
Where is UFC 246?
The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Are tickets for UFC 246 on sale?
Yes, they are still available to purchase from StubHub and Viagogo.
What TV channel is it on?
The fight will be shown live on BT Sport Box Office.
How do I watch it and how much does it cost?
The fight will cost £19.95 from BT Sport Box Office.
You do not need a BT Sport subscription to purchase the fight.
More details on how to purchase the fight are available here.
