Conor McGregor hopes to fight three times in 2020

UFC superstar Conor McGregor plans to fight three times in 2020, according to a new report from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

Helwani was recently a guest on ESPN SportsCenter and spoke about McGregor’s plans for his return to the Octagon in 2020. According to Helwani, McGregor wants to have three fights next year. The first of those is a welterweight bout at UFC 246 against Donald Cerrone, a fight the UFC officially confirmed this week. The other two are fights against either Jorge Masvidal or Nate Diaz, and then finally a fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Check out what Helwani said about McGregor’s plans for the new year.

Talking McGregor vs. Cerrone on SportsCenter this AM with @RandyScottESPN, and why it’s the perfect fight for both. pic.twitter.com/BcIeN0V7pb

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 29, 2019

“Ok, so (Conor) has laid out this plan that he wants to fight three times next year. He hasn’t done that in over three years as well. It’s a pretty lofty goal but he believes that when he is active then he is not getting distracted, he’s not getting in trouble, he’s very focused. People are telling me right now they haven’t seen him this focused in a very long time. We hear this a lot in the fight game, but he’s going to sleep early, he’s waking up early. He wants to prove everyone that says he’s shot that they are wrong,” Helwani said.

“So he wants to fight January 18 — in fact, he wanted to fight in December but the UFC didn’t give him that opportunity — so he wanted to fight at the beginning of the year. Then he wants to return towards spring or summer. Maybe fight Jorge Masvidal or Nathan Diaz. Perhaps that’s why this fight is happening at 170lbs, to prove he can hang with the welterweights. And then he wants to fight at the end of the year against Khabib Nurmagomedov if he’s still the champion in Moscow. He really wants to right that wrong. He’s hoping he can win those two fights, get the title fight, then shut everyone up.”

Of course, before McGregor can even think about fighting anyone else he has to get through Cerrone at UFC 246. But if he wins that fight, especially if it’s in vintage, impressive fashion, perhaps McGregor’s plan for 2020 will go the way he wants it to.

Do you think Conor McGregor will stick to the plan and indeed compete three times in 2020?