Conor McGregor sends message to fans ahead of UFC 229 showdown with Khabib
CONOR MCGREGOR has sent a message to his fans ahead of his long-awaited return to the UFC.
In a little over five weeks time, the UFC’s poster boy will return to the Octagon, which he hasn’t graced in nearly two years.
Welcoming McGregor back to the mixed martial arts world is undefeated Dagestani wrecking machine Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor’s eagerly-anticipated showdown with Nurmagomedov will headline UFC 229 on October 6, the promotion’s penultimate Las Vegas pay-per-view card of the year.
The MMA world - in particular the UFC - has greatly missed McGregor’s presence, a fact the Irishman is all too aware of.
In the early hours of the morning, McGregor sent a message to MMA fans on Instagram alongside a video of his historic UFC 205 victory over Eddie Alvarez.
The accompanying caption wrote: “I know you’s have missed me.”
McGregor’s grudge match with Nurmagomedov has all the ingredients to make UFC 229 the biggest fight card in the promotion’s history.
UFC president Dana White is expecting it to be just that and believes the event could bring in two million pay-per-view buys.
I know you’s have missed me
“Obviously, I think this fight will be massive,” White told The BBC MMA Show. “This will be the biggest fight we’ve ever done on pay-per-view, for sure.
“We were projecting that this thing does two million buys. It will be massive, it will be fun.
“The Irish will be there, which always makes it fun.
“There’s going to be a lot of Russian’s there and a lot of UFC fans.”
Many in the mixed martial arts world where surprised by McGregor’s decision to take on Nurmagomedov, who is arguably the most feared fighter on the UFC roster.
White, however, wasn’t one of them.
"That’s why Conor McGregor is a massive superstar,” the UFC chief said when asked if he shocked by McGregor’s decision to lock horns with the much-feared Nurmagomedov in his comeback fight.
“In the fight business, fans love guys who are real fighters and want to fight everybody and only want to fight the best.
“And that’s been Conor McGregor since the day he set foot in this company.
“He actually had told me at one point that, ‘I’ll fight him in Russia.’ That’s just the way Conor is. Conor fears no one.
"He wants to fight everyone and he’ll fight anybody any place, anywhere. And that’s why people love him.”
McGregor, 30, hasn't set foot inside the Octagon since claiming the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 205, where he became the promotion's first simultaneous two-weight world champion.
He was relieved of the title in April, a decision the UFC brass made due to the Dubliner's inactivity.
That paved the way for Nurmagomedov to replace McGregor at the summit of the lightweight division, a feat he achieved in the main event of UFC 223 with a unanimous decision victory over Al Iaquinta.