How to watch UFC 246: Conor McGregor vs Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone
Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon to fight Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in UFC 246 at Las Vegas this weekend
It has been fifteen months since his last UFC fight and three years since his last UFC victory. On Saturday night, Conor McGregor returns to UFC 246 in Las Vegas hoping to slowly ascend the peak of his UFC powers where he once held both the UFC Featherweight and Lightweight titles at the same time.
The Irishman will face American MMA fighter Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone who has fought in five UFC events since McGregor’s last stepped into the ring competitively. Cowboy is reeling from two back-to-back losses against Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, while McGregor last fight was a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Russian who has yet to taste defeat after almost 30 UFC bouts.
‘Notorious’ last tasted UFC victory all the way back in November 2016, when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to win the Lightweight Championship. Luckily for McGregor, UFC 246 takes place in a familiar arena, Las Vegas in Nevada, marking the seventh time he’ll be fighting in the city in his last nine UFC fights. Apart from Nurmagomedov, it’s also where McGregor lost his only boxing match to Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
UFC President Dana White said that UFC 246 in Las Vegas sold out on the first day itself, but this isn’t surprising giving the track record of both fighters and the narrative behind Saturday’s UFC 246 headline event.
Conor McGregor – responsible for the most of the biggest-selling UFC PPVs in the history of the sport – is making his UFC comeback after a hiatus and many are wondering if he is the same ruthless fighter and trash-talker as he was when he became the first UFC fighter to hold two titles at the same time.
At 36, Donald Cerrone is the perfect opponent to test McGregor, who is five years younger than him. ‘Cowboy’ holds the record for most wins in UFC history (23), most finishes in UFC history (16) and most knockdowns in UFC history (20). Only once in his illustrious 51-match UFC career, has Cowboy lost three fights in a row and he wouldn’t want a repeat of that this weekend.
The co-main headline fight takes place in the Women’s Bantamweight division as Holly Holm fights Raquel Pennington, whom she defeated five years back at UFC 184. Pennington is coming off a split-decision victory against Irene Aldana last July, while Holm will be looking to bounce back after five losses in her last seven fights.
READ NEXT: How to watch Liverpool vs Manchester United
UFC 246 Main Card
UK date, time and channel: Sunday, 19 January, at 3am on BT Sport Box Office
US date, time and channel: Saturday, 18 January, at 10pm/7pm ET/PT on ESPN+
- Conor McGregor vs Donal Cerrone in the Welterweight bout
- Holly Holm vs Raquel Pennington in the Woman’s Bantamweight bout
- Aleksei Oleinik vs Maurice Greene in the Heavyweight bout
- Claudia Gadelha vs Alexa Grasso in the Women’s Strawweight bout
- Anthony Pettis vs Diego Ferreira in the Lightweight bout
UFC 246 Prelims Card
UK date, time and channel: Sunday, 19 January, at 1am GMT on UFC Fight Pass
US date, time and channel: Saturday, 18 January, at 8pm/5pm ET/PT on ESPN
- Roxanne Modafferi vs Maycee Barber in the Women’s Flyweight bout
- Andre Fili vs Sodiq Yusuff in the Featherweight bout
- Tim Elliott vs Askar Askarov in the Flyweight bout
- Drew Dober vs Nasrat Haqparast in the Lightweight bout
UFC 246 Early Prelims Card
UK date, time and channel: Saturday, 18 January, at 11:30pm on UFC Fight Pass
US date, time and channel: Saturday, 18 January, at 6:30pm/3:30pm ET/PT on UFC Fight Pass
- Alexa Camur vs Justin Ledet in the Light Heavyweight bout
- Brian Kelleher vs Ode Osbourne in the Bantamweight bout
- Sabina Mazo vs JJ Aldrich
Go to the official UFC page for a detailed list of UFC 246 Fight times across the globe
How to watch UFC 246: McGregor vs Cowboy in the US – ESPN+
ESPN+ has exclusive rights to broadcast every single UFC PPV event, including UFC 246 which takes place on Saturday night, live from Las Vegas. If you don’t have an existing ESPN+ subscription, the best way to rewatch UFC 246 is to subscribe to the ESPN+ and UFC 246 bundle.
This gives you one year’s access to ESPN and UFC 246 for just $65. Alternatively, you can choose a new user bundle that will give you access to one UFC PPV and a 1-year ESPN+ subscription for $85, saving you a handy 25% in the process.
Existing ESPN+ subscribers have two options. You can either purchase UFC 246 McGregor vs Cowboy for $65, or you can switch to an annual plan and purchase Saturday’s fight in Vegas for $85. The ESPN+ bundle gives you access to 20 exclusive live UFC Fight Nights, including Dana White’s Contender Series, Ariel The Bad Guy, classic fights, replays and much more, but it does not include a seven-day trial of the service.
ESPN+ is a subscription service that lets you watch the fights live on any of your devices. Apart from your PC, phone and tablet, there are apps for Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast and even gaming consoles such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
How to watch the UFC 246: McGregor vs Cowboy in the UK – BT Sport Box Office
Unlike other UFC tournaments which are available via the regular BT Sports subscription, UFC 246: McGregor vs Cowboy is a pay-per-view event, available to buy for £19.95.
BT Sports Box Office HD will broadcast the entire UFC 246 Main Card, starting from £20, starting from 3am onwards on Sunday, 19 January.
If you have BT TV, you can order UFC 246 very easily. To do this, simply press the BT Player button on your remote, then press the ‘Buy Now’ button on the event.
Sky TV customers who have purchased previous BT Sport Box Office events will see the option to purchase UFC 246 on their remote.
If you have Virgin TV, simply press On Demand on your remote, then select Live Event to order UFC 246.
How to watch UFC 246: McGregor vs Cowboy wherever you are – use a good VPN service
Both ESPN+ and BT Sport block their UFC 246 coverage outside of the US and UK respectively, meaning you won’t be able to watch McGregor’s comeback fight if you’re away from either of the countries on Saturday/Sunday unless you use a reputed virtual private network, or VPN.
These services not only encrypt all your traffic as you browse the web but also let you access geo-blocked content. This means you can simply choose which country you want to browse from (US or UK) and the VPN will trick your device into thinking it is actually located in that country to let you access ESPN+ or BT Sport Box Office from abroad.
READ NEXT: Best VPN services 2020
ExpressVPN: We’ve compiled a list of the best VPN services and our top-ranked VPN is ExpressVPN. Apart from being the fastest VPN with connections to the US, Europe and Australia, ExpressVPN has 24/7 customer support, a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee and you can use it on five devices at the same time. Our readers get 49% when you choose the one-year plan!