Hoist up the Irish tricolour and put on your day-drinking pants. Here comes UFC Fight Night 46, straight out of fightin‘ Dublin, Ireland.
I might as well go ahead and use up all my dumb stereotypes, just as the UFC is using up all of its own Irishness this Saturday for its triumphant return to The Emerald Isle. No less than four Irish fighters—five, if you count Norman Parke—populate this card. Not bad, considering there was nary an Irishman to be found on the UFC roster 18 months ago.
If not all of this is because of Conor McGregor, a lot of it certainly is.
This is the UFC’s second event in Ireland and the first in five years. The promotion is not going back because it has a hankering for an authentic boxty, although a good boxty can make for a simple but filling meal.
It’s almost entirely on the shoulders of McGregor, the fast-talking, sharp-dressing, hard-striking 26-year-old Dubliner who has taken the UFC featherweight division by storm and happens to be making his comeback fight on this card, following an 11-month absence after ACL repair surgery.
McGregor is the headline, but he has a real challenge in Brazilian bull Diego Brandao. Cathal Pendred, a standout from the recently concluded season of The Ultimate Fighter, helps round out the national intrigue. But there’s plenty of good stuff up and down the card, which begins at 3 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon and airs entirely on UFC Fight Pass, the company’s subscription streaming service.
Here’s a complete guide to the action, including information capsules, predictions and viewing coordinates for each and every bout on the slate.