Not a bad aul’ card at five weeks’ notice.
Back in the saddle. That is how the UFC are selling next month’s pay-per-view bout between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone. We have known about that fight for a while now but the rest of the UFC 246 card is taking shape.
Earlier this week, the promotion made McGregor vs. Cerrone official but it is a fight both men have already been hyping and that UFC president Dana White is excitedly talking about.
Cerrone is one of the most active fighters in the UFC and has taken to The Octagon 11 times since McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez, in November 2016, to become undisputed featherweight and lightweight champion. ‘The Notorious’ has, in that time, lost a boxing encounter against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.
McGregor himself has admitted that he lost some of the fire that drove him towards becoming the ‘Champ Champ’ and he insists 2020 will see a refocused fighter. White says a McGregor win over Cerrone would open up the possibility of fights against Nurmagomedov or highly ranked welterweight [and B.M.F champion] Jorge Masvidal.
The official UFC fight poster is somewhat mundane but others are sufficiently whetting the appetite for the January 18 clash in Las Vegas.
Had a little spare time today to throw these 2 together for #UFC246 hopefully I get more time to play around with mma stuff – @TheNotoriousMMA x @Cowboycerrone pic.twitter.com/r0HoMLjrnD
— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) December 14, 2019
During the UFC broadcast, which was closed out by Kamaru Usman’s TKO win over Colby Covington, the promotion started up the fanfare for its next PPV.
Anthony Pettis’ return to the lightweight division was confirmed with his bout against Carlos Diego Ferreira while Holly Holm, the fighter that famously dethroned Ronda Rousey, will run it back against Raquel Pennington and Claudia Gadelha will take on Alexa Grasso.
And the hits just keep on coming!@ClaudiaGadelha_ 🆚 @AlexaGrasso@HollyHolm 🆚 @RockyPMMA@TouchyFili 🆚 @Super_Sodiq
🎟️➡️ #UFC246 tickets on sale Dec. 20 pic.twitter.com/rBLxTG56XB
— UFC (@ufc) December 15, 2019
Other minor bouts had been revealed in recent weeks so the entire fight card is taking shape.
UFC 246 fight card (as of December 15)
- Welterweight bout: Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone
- Lightweight bout: Anthony Pettis vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
- Women’s Bantamweight bout: Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington
- Women’s Strawweight bout: Cláudia Gadelha vs. Alexa Grasso
- Featherweight bout: Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff
Undercard
- Women’s Flyweight bout: Roxanne Modafferi vs. Maycee Barber
- Lightweight bout: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Drew Dober
- Featherweight bout: Grant Dawson vs. Chas Skelly
- Heavyweight bout: Aleksei Oleinik vs. Maurice Greene
- Flyweight bout: Tim Elliott vs. Askar Askarov
- Bantamweight bout: Brian Kelleher vs. Ode Osbourne
- Women’s Flyweight bout: Sabina Mazo vs. JJ Aldrich
The UFC also ran a two-minute promo for McGregor vs. Cerrone, which they have declared as ‘The Showdown’. In it, we hear from UFC pundit Joe Rogan and both fighters.
It ends with McGregor declaring, “I’m going to take the game back under control.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyQR5RhT7GU
Given that we are thick in the festive season, we may have to wait until early January before we get to see both men going at it on the promo circuit. Nonetheless, anticipation levels are building nicely.
