Conor McGregor Says Donald Cerrone is the Start of 2020 Season

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Conor McGregor is ready to start the year off in a big way when he faces Donald Cerrone on Jan. 18.

McGregor (21-4) has been out of action as far as mixed martial arts competition goes since his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov back at UFC 229 in 2018. At the dawn of a new decade and a fight booked with Cerrone (36-13, 1 NC) at UFC 246, McGregor says he is focused on competition, and his upcoming match is only the beginning of what he calls his "2020 season."

Speaking to TheMacLife on Friday, McGregor says Cerrone is part of a list of names he plans on facing in the coming year. When asked why Cerrone is first, McGregor simply stated that their history dictates Cerrone is first. "If you look at the list of callouts or the people that I've engaged with, Donald was probably one of the first ones, so he's first on the list, and that's it. And I'll get to every single one of them also."

Part of McGregor's 2020 plan is to be ready to face Nurmagomedov again. At the very least, he plans to be prepared to fill in this April should something go awry in the champ's meeting with Tony Ferguson, due to the two's lengthy and problematic history. The preparation to compete at lightweight in a few months is one of the main reasons he says he and Cerrone are fighting at 170 pounds instead of 155 pounds.

"That's what I weigh now," McGregor explained when asked about how welterweight translates to him fighting at the top of the 155-pound weight class. "The lightweight title fight is in April or March, likely something will happen there and I will be ready to slide in for that belt." He added that doing his return camp back for 170 pounds against Cerrone would only help him in his weight cutting process.

He concluded, describing that his current camp is what will take him into a year he views as, "a season, this is the beginning of the season. Donald was the first one that I agreed to."