Conor McGregor to return to the UFC in October, Dana White says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Conor McGregor will make his UFC return on Oct. 6, it was announced Friday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Conor McGregor is returning to the Octagon.
The UFC star's much-anticipated return will occur on Oct. 6, UFC president Dana White announced on Friday. McGregor will face undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“The fight is done,” White said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It’ll mark the first UFC contest for McGregor in almost two years – or since his last victory against Eddie Alvarez in November 2016.
McGregor’s return to the Octagon, however, has been a controversial one.
In April he was charged by police after a video appeared to show him attacking a bus full of UFC fighters arriving for an event in Brooklyn. He was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief, the New York Police Department told Fox News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nurmagomedov was the intended target of McGregor's wrath after a previous spat between the fighters' camps.
Nurmagomedov (26-0), who wasn't on the bus, won the vacant lightweight belt by beating Al Iaquinta in Brooklyn two days after McGregor's bus attack, which injured uninvolved fighters Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg. McGregor eventually was sentenced to perform five days of community service, avoiding jail time.
McGregor (21-3) has not fought professionally since being knocked out in his boxing debut last August at the hands of Floyd Mayweather. That fight generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and became the second-best-selling boxing pay-per-view event ever.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}White didn't immediately disclose terms of the deal over McGregor’s return.
Fox News’ Tyler McCarthy and Edmund DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report.