Conor McGregor is preparing for his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon at UFC 246 on Saturday, January 18. The former two-division champion is set to face off against fan-favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ahead of the bout, McGregor announced that he has been clean and sober for months leading up to his return.
The revelation came during a recent interview where he revealed that he was drinking throughout his training camp for his last title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov; even going as far as to drink during fight week.
McGregor said that his last drink was “a couple months ago, three, four months ago.”
“You learn something from everything,” McGregor said, via MMA Fighting. “I learned a lot about myself through it. Don’t get me wrong, the work was great. It’s not like I was coming into the gym being lazy and half-assed. It was almost too intense and too serious and working too hard in the gym, and then not working hard enough outside it. Cause that’s a big part of it as well.
“You’ve got to be focused outside, because cause then the next day rolls around and if you aren’t focused when you left the gym, then it’s time to go back, you’re not as sharp. You’re not as fresh. You’re not as eager to be there.”
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.
