Can Conor McGregor avenge his defeat to Nate Diaz at UFC 202? Raymond Spencer / INPHO Raymond Spencer / INPHO / INPHO

CONOR McGREGOR RETURNS to the octagon tonight so you might be wondering how exactly you can watch live as the Irish mixed martial arts star bids to avenge his defeat to Nate Diaz last March at UFC 196.

Unfortunately for viewers in Ireland, a couple of factors have combined in recent weeks which will make UFC 202 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas slightly less accessible than is normally the case for UFC events.

The only place to [legitimately] see the fight live in Ireland is BT Sport 2, which is available on the eir Sport [formerly Setanta Sports] package. However, the problem there is for those who are on the Virgin Media platform, which no longer carries eir Sport.

To add to the complications, the UFC has taken the decision to remove the option for fans in Ireland to purchase each event individually on a pay-per-view basis from their online platforms, such as UFC Fight Pass, UFC.com and YouTube.

If you do have access to the fight, Conor McGregor’s meeting with Nate Diaz will be the last of five bouts on the main card, which kicks off at 3am. However, it’s likely to be approximately 5.30am before McGregor and Diaz finally get down to business — unless there are a spate of early finishes in the preceding bouts.

Expect Diaz versus McGregor to begin at approximately 5.30am on Sunday morning. Raymond Spencer / INPHO Raymond Spencer / INPHO / INPHO

The UFC 202 action kicks off at 11.30pm with the preliminary card. The early prelims will be on UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s online broadcast platform, and the late prelims — beginning at 1am and featuring SBG Ireland’s Artem Lobov’s bout with Chris Avila at around 1.30am — can be viewed via both Fight Pass and BT Sport 2.

UFC 202

Main card (BT Sport 2 — 3am)

Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor
Anthony Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira
Rick Story vs. Donald Cerrone
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Mike Perry
Tim Means vs. Sabah Homasi

Late prelims (BT Sport 2 and UFC Fight Pass — 1am)

Cody Garbrandt vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Raquel Pennington vs. Elizabeth Phillips
Artem Lobov vs. Chris Avila
Randa Markos vs. Cortney Casey

Early prelims (UFC Fight Pass — 11.30pm)

Neil Magny vs. Lorenz Larkin
Colby Covington vs. Max Griffin
Alberto Uda vs. Marvin Vettori

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