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Conor McGregor will finally return to the Octagon on January 18 next year to face Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 at the T-Mobile Arena.
While the controversial Irishman is busy preparing for his highly-anticipated comeback, he is also looking beyond the Cowboy fight and intends on being more active in 2020.
Ariel Helwani was on ESPN's Sportscentre and the popular journalist revealed McGregor's plans for next year.
Helwani stated that the former UFC Champion plans on fighting thrice in 2020. The first one, of course, will be against Cowboy in January.
McGregor also has his eyes set on fighting either Nate Diaz or Jorge Masvidal before finally pursuing a rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Helwani also revealed that the people close to Conor have never seen him this focussed in his career. McGregor is following a tight schedule and is going the extra mile to prove his detractors wrong.
“Ok, so (Conor) has laid out this plan that he wants to fight three times next year. He hasn’t done that in over three years as well. It’s a pretty lofty goal but he believes that when he is active then he is not getting distracted, he’s not getting in trouble, he’s very focused. People are telling me right now they haven’t seen him this focused in a very long time. We hear this a lot in the fight game, but he’s going to sleep early, he’s waking up early. He wants to prove everyone that says he’s shot that they are wrong."
McGregor's roadmap for 2020 is simple. He wants to win his next two fights before potentially avenging his loss to the Dagestani mauler. McGregor wants to face the Eagle in his own backyard in Moscow by the end of 2020.
“So he wants to fight January 18 — in fact, he wanted to fight in December but the UFC didn’t give him that opportunity — so he wanted to fight at the beginning of the year. Then he wants to return towards spring or summer. Maybe fight Jorge Masvidal or Nathan Diaz. Perhaps that’s why this fight is happening at 170lbs, to prove he can hang with the welterweights."
"And then he wants to fight at the end of the year against Khabib Nurmagomedov if he’s still the champion in Moscow. He really wants to right that wrong. He’s hoping he can win those two fights, get the title fight, then shut everyone up.” H/t Credit: BJPenn
Even the most staunch McGregor haters would admit that he was a special talent in his prime, however, could Notorious get back to his best form in what may be a make or break year for him?
