Conor McGregor's UFC return already breaking records, Khabib Nurmagomedov tangled in tax fraud: MMA News Roundup

Conor McGregor's much-anticipated return at UFC 303 has already broken a massive record. Elsewhere, his arch nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov is tangled up in tax evasion allegations.

Read on to find out more about today's top combat sports updates.

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UFC 303 is already the biggest gate in the promotion's history

Conor McGregor's return to the octagon is still more than a month away, and it's already the biggest gate of all time.

During the UFC St. Louis post-fight press conference, Dana White revealed that UFC 303 has already sold "way over $20 million" in tickets. He also slammed former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza for once claiming that a UFC event would never be able to cross such a figure in gate revenue.

The top two gates at the moment were brought in by McGregor headliners - UFC 205 ($17.7 million) and UFC 229 ($17.2 million) - two of the biggest events in the promotion's history. The UFC 300 card last month, featuring multiple current and former world champions, raked in $16.5 million.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov accused of tax evasion

Khabib Nurmagomedov is reportedly facing a massive debt with Russia's tax authorities, according to several outlets including rt.com and Mash Media. The former lightweight champion has allegedly had bank accounts associated with his charity fund and Eagle FC promotion, frozen.

In a post on its Telegram channel, Mash alleged that Nurmagomedov has failed to pay taxes amounting to around 300 million rubles ($3 million). The report claimed that Russia's Federal Tax Services launched a probe into his assets after it was discovered that despite relinquishing ownership of several firms, his relatives and close associates remained at the helm in some instances.

Several of these businesses have been shut down following the investigation, per the report, and Eagle FC may face a similar fate.

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Dana White keeps a bizarre request by the reporter

Keeping in line with his outrageous celebrations, Derrick Lewis took his outer shorts off, pretended to fan his fallen opponent Rodrigo Nascimento and mooned a packed St. Louis crowd.

He also threw his protective cup out of the octagon. It was picked up by a reporter, who got it signed by Lewis and later requested Dana White to give his autograph on it as well.

While initially hesitant, White obliged to the request and signed the used cup.

Before all this went down, Lewis added another knockout to his collection by finishing Nascimento in the third round via TKO.