Why is Conor McGregor fighting Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 and do they hate each other?
Conor McGregor will make his return to the Octagon tonight.
Conor McGregor makes his eagerly-anticipated return to the UFC. The former two-division champion’s return to the Octagon will headline UFC 246 in Las Vegas.
McGregor’s comeback fight will pit him against a fellow fan favourite Donald Cerrone, whom he’ll meet in a welterweight match-up.
The booking of McGregor vs Cerrone didn’t raise any eyebrows amongst mixed martial arts fans as the fight had been in the works for several months.
But those who are part-time observers of the sport and expected to see him rematch Khabib Nurmagomedov were thoroughly perplexed by the fight, especially when looking at Cerrone’s recent record.
So why exactly is McGregor being welcomed back to the cage by ‘Cowboy’?
Express Sport is reporting live from Las Vegas in association with Ohmbet UK, the UK’s No.1 MMA Sportsbook. For the latest UFC 246 fight odds and more click here.
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You are as stiff as a board, I’d snap you in half and that’s it
There are several answers to this often-asked question from casual mixed martial arts fans, many of whom are unfamiliar with Cerrone.
For starters, both men are coming off of losses - with McGregor having lost to Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018 and Cerrone suffering consecutive defeats to Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje in June and September of 2019.
So in terms of the general progression of the lightweight division, the UFC’s decision to pit the pair against one another makes sense.
It also makes sense when looking at the lightweight rankings, in which McGregor currently sits at No.4 and Cerrone occupies the No.5 slot.
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One, however, could make the argument McGregor's comeback fight should’ve been against the in-form Justin Gaethje - the No.3-ranked 155-pounder - if he’s serious about getting back into the lightweight title picture.
The aforementioned reasons more than justify the booking of McGregor vs Cerrone, though they don’t trump the glaring history the duo have with one another.
At the UFC’s Go Big press conference in September 2015, McGregor and Cerrone planted the seed for their eagerly-anticipated meeting as they traded verbal jabs (to avoid repeat) - though many overlooked it as McGregor had the small matter of taking care of the-then undefeated Jose Aldo.
“Conor has no right coming up to 155, there’s no way,” said a fired-up Cerrone, who was just a matter of months away from his lightweight title bout with then-champion Rafael dos Anjos. “He’s not gonna stand a chance, we’re too big for him, too strong. So you can take your little English a** and get on.”
Never to let anyone throw shade his way, McGregor was quick to respond to the former WEC standout, saying: “You are too slow and too stiff.
“You are as stiff as a board, I’d snap you in half and that’s it. I see stiffness when I look in that 155lbs division, slow, stiff.
“I feel like they’re stuck in the mud. The featherweights they hit like flyweights so it’s nice down there just killing them.
"And that whole division but I keep my eye on that 155 division and I see them all stuck in the mud up there.
“So we’ll see over time. But guess what, have I been wrong yet? No.” Given their heated back-and-forth, one would assume the pair still have some animosity towards one another, right?
Well, you’d be wrong to think that. In fact, McGregor and Cerrone have been nothing but cordial with one another since the announcement of their bout.
“I know Donald's a good fighter,” McGregor said of ‘Cowboy’ in an interview with The Mac Life earlier this. “[He has] great records. Most knockdowns, most head kicks, most fights, most rounds. He's got a lot of UFC records under his belt.”
It remains to be seen if that cordialness will continue on fight week.
UFC 246 Purses
Conor McGregor: £2.3million ($3 million) (no win bonus)
Donald Cerrone: £154,000 ($200,000) to show, £154,000 ($200,000) to win
Holly Holm: £115,000 ($150,000) to show, £38,000 ($50,000) to win
Raquel Pennington: £48,000 ($63,000) to show, £48,000 ($63,000) to win
Alexey Oleynik: £57,000 ($75,000) to show, £57,000 ($75,000) to win
Maurice Greene: £23,000 ($30,000) to show, £23,000 ($30,000) to win
Anthony Pettis: £119,00 ($155,000) to show, £119,000 ($155,000) to win
Diego Ferreira: £38,000 ($50,000) to show, £38,000 ($50,000) to win