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While the UFC hasn’t officially announced Conor McGregor’s next fight, UFC president Dana White finally confirmed the fight would officially happen at UFC 257 on January 23. In fact, White told the media during the post-fight press conference for UFC 255 on Saturday night at UFC APEX in Las Vegas that he thought his company had already announced McGregor’s planned bout against Dustin Poirier.
“It’s a fight,” White said.
McGregor is set to face Poirier on January 23 in the main event of UFC 257. According to White, the bout is likely to take place on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi and the plan is to have fans in attendance.
It’s a massive rematch between two of the best and most popular 155-pound fighters in the world today.
McGregor defeated Poirier via first-round knockout over six years ago in a featherweight bout, but both fighters have become much better fighters since their first encounter.
Six years later, McGregor vs. Poirier 2 will feature two of the top fighters in the UFC, and the winner should end up being ranked the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds when the fight is over.
McGregor’s 2 Fights Lined up for 2021
McGregor already has two fights lined up for 2021.
The 32-year-old Irish superstar is set to face Poirier at UFC 257 on January 23. He also plans to fight 41-year-old boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in a superfight crossover boxing match.
Earlier this week, McGregor’s manager Audie Attar revealed the UFC superstar’s plans.
“He’s gonna be handling business against Dustin first. But, Conor has come out and said he wants to fight Manny, Manny has come out and said he wants to fight Conor,” Attar said.
“As I stated publicly before, we have had conversations. So, that is a fight we are definitely going to make because both fighters want it, and there seems to be an interest from the fans all around the world,” Attar said.
Both McGregor and Pacquiao are represented by Attar’s Paradigm Sports Management.
Other Potential Fights for McGregor
In addition to facing Poirier at UFC 257, McGregor would still seem to have plenty of big UFC fights still ahead of him.
The most obvious one would be a rematch against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov already defeated McGregor via fourth-round submission back in October 2018 at UFC 229, but that fight was the best-selling UFC pay-per-view event in history.
Most believe Khabib vs. McGregor 2 might do even better numbers, so the UFC is likely to do everything in its power to turn that rematch into a reality.
But even if that fight never happens, the UFC has a bevy of stars in the lightweight division to match against McGregor.
McGregor vs. Tony Ferguson or Michael Chandler makes some sense.
Moreover, McGregor could fight Nate Diaz for the third time in a welterweight bout. McGregor and Diaz are knotted at 1-1, so a third fight has been due for a while now.
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Dana White on Conor McGregor: ‘It’s a Fight’