We haven’t heard much trash talk between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone leading up to their UFC 246 pay-per-view clash on Saturday, January 18. The two men have been focused on their main event scrap in the first UFC event of the year, but years ago the groundwork was set for a potential future bout.
At a press conference in 2015, both of the mean were on stage alongside the likes of Ronda Rousey, Daniel Cormier, Robbie Lawler, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Rafael Dos Anjos, Alexander Gustafsson, Carlos Condit, Luke Rockhold, Dan Henderson, Holly Holm, and Vitor Belfort.
During the presser, Cerrone and McGregor began trading verbal jabs and talk of the two men meeting inside of the cage has been circling ever since.
Now, we are less than a week from the two men finally settling the score.
McGregor last appeared inside of the Octagon in October 2018 when he suffered a submission loss to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Prior to his loss to Nurmagomedov, McGregor was on a two-fight winning streak with a welterweight bout victory over Nate Diaz and a Performance of the Night against Eddie Alvarez to claim the 155-pound title on November 12, 2016. However, McGregor was later stripped of the title due to inactivity — he was previously stripped of the featherweight belt after winning the lightweight crown.
Cerrone, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back after a two-fight losing streak. “Cowboy” went 2-2 in 2019 with wins over Al Iaquinta and Alexander Hernandez, while suffering losses to top lightweight contenders Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Three of Cerrone’s last four fights earned him $50,000 bonuses for Fight of the Night.
According to BetMGM.com, McGregor opened as nearly a 3-to-1 favorite. The moneyline currently has the former two-division champion as a -278 favorite for the welterweight bout while Cowboy sits at +200. That means a $100 wager on Cerrone would net you $200 in wins, while you would have to bet $278 on McGregor to win $100.
The UFC 246 main card will officially kickoff at 10:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 18 exclusively on pay-per-view.
