It appears the UFC is one step closer to finding Conor McGregor’s next opponent.
Speaking to TMZ Wednesday, a tentative UFC president Dana White revealed plans for a targeted fight between McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Donald Cerrone (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC) for a Jan. 18 card scheduled to take place in Las Vegas.
White had already confirmed the date and location before. He’d yet to identify Cerrone as the desired opponent.
“We have nothing done, 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’,” White said.
“No. 3 vs. No. 5, Jan. 18 at the T-Mobile (Arena) in Las Vegas.”
McGregor recently held a news conference in which he revealed the Jan. 18 date for his return, but said no deals or contracts have been signed yet. He hasn’t competed since his fourth-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018 at UFC 229.
McGregor has been involved in several incidents outside of the cage, smashing a fan’s phone in Miami in March, followed sucker punching a man at a pub in Ireland one month later. Both incidents were caught on video. McGregor publicly acknowledged he was in the wrong both times.
Reports emerged earlier this month that McGregor is the subject of a sexual assault investigation in Ireland, the second time this year, but has not been charged in either case.
Cerrone is on a two-fight losing streak, suffering back-to-back stoppage losses to Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, but is confident that his long desired bout with McGregor will finally come to fruition. The two had been previously linked to a potential fight earlier this year.
