Getty
Conor McGregor heads back to the Octagon for the first time in over a year as he takes on Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 Saturday night in a lightweight bout that has some huge implications on the future of the division.
In order to watch Poirier vs McGregor 2, you’ll first need to buy the UFC 257 PPV. You can read on for a more complete rundown of all your pricing options and different ways to watch:
Heavy may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via a link on this page
How to Buy UFC 257 If You Don’t Have ESPN+
If you haven’t subscribed to ESPN+ before, you can get a special bundle deal that includes a one-year subscription to ESPN+ ($59.99 value) and the UFC 257 PPV ($69.99 value) for $89.98, which works out to over 30 percent savings:
Or, if you want to purchase them separately, you can first subscribe to a month of ESPN+ right here ($5.99 for ESPN+, or $12.99 for a bundle of ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+), then follow the below directions for existing ESPN+ subscribers.
However, with the amount of UFC (and other sports) content on ESPN+, most MMA fans are probably going to keep ESPN+ long-term, meaning the value of the bundle is the better way to go if you don’t already have ESPN+.
How to Buy UFC 257 If You Already Have ESPN+
Current ESPN+ subscribers can order the UFC 257 PPV by itself for $69.99 right here:
Or, if you only have a monthly subscription (and don’t have the Disney+ bundle), you can still get the special bundle that includes a year of ESPN+ and the UFC 257 PPV. The only difference is that instead of starting a new ESPN+ subscription, you’ll just extend your current subscription by a year and get the UFC 257 PPV for a total of $89.98:
How to Watch UFC 257
Once you’re signed up for ESPN+ and you’ve purchased the PPV, you’ll be able to watch UFC 257 on January 23 on your computer via ESPN.com, or you can watch on the ESPN app on any compatible device, such as:
Roku or Roku TV
Amazon Fire Stick or Fire TV
Apple TV
Chromecast
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
iPhone or iPad
Android phone or tablet
Samsung Smart TV
Oculus Go
For all of those options, you’ll need to sign in with your ESPN+ account to watch early prelims (ESPN+), prelims (ESPN+) and the main card (ESPN+ PPV).
UFC 257 Preview
The notorious Conor McGregor is back in the UFC after a brief retirement and he’s got his sights set on reclaiming the hardware in the lightweight division. Next up for McGregor is Dustin Poirier, who he beat back in 2014.
Poirier, also known as “The Diamond,” has won seven out of his last eight fights, the lone loss coming to Khabib Nurmagomedov — the undefeated name at the top of the division who also beat McGregor.
Nurmagomedov said he would retire after his last win, a second-round submission of Justin Gaethje, running his record to 29-0. That being said, if Nurmagomedov is impressed by what he sees this weekend on Fight Island, he might decide to defend his title.
“He’s accomplished everything he set out to accomplish,” UFC President Dana White said he was told by Nurmagomedov. “He thought that Oliveira looked really good in his fight against Tony Ferguson. Next Saturday, we have the McGregor-Poirier fight and Chandler and Hooker on there.
“His words to me were, ‘I’m gonna watch this fight.’ He said, ‘I would never tie up the division, hold the belt, keep the belt away from anybody else. These guys do something spectacular, show me something spectacular, and make me want to come back and fight.’ So I have a feeling that if somebody delivers, it could be on the co-main event or the main event and like I said he thought Oliveira looked good. Two fights coming up, if these guys can do something special, Khabib will fight them.”
White is happy to have McGregor, the sport’s biggest star, back in the conversation.
“I think (the) time off is what’s given him this,” White said. “He’s as famous as famous can be. You said he’s got all the money in the world. There’s a lot of things that drive you crazy about this sport. It gets you to a point where you’re just like, ‘I don’t want anything to do with this right now.’ Once you get away from it for a while, you start to remember all of the things that you love about it.
“I can imagine, for a fighter, I couldn’t speak on that side, (about) the level of training that they do and fight week and all the things that go into it, but I think you start to miss it. I think that’s where he was. I’ve seen it happen with so many other guys, too. I think that’s his motivation right now.”
Main card
Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier — Lightweight
Dan Hooker vs. Michael Chandler — Lightweight
Jessica Eye vs. Joanne Calderwood — Women’s Flyweight
Matt Frevola vs. Ottman Azaitar — Lightweight
Marina Rodriguez vs. Amanda Ribas — Women’s Strawweight
Prelims
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Nasrat Haqparast — Lightweight
Brad Tavares vs. Antonio Carlos Junior — Middleweight
Julianna Pena vs. Sara McMann — Women’s Bantamweight
Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Marcin Prachnio — Light Heavyweight
Andrew Sanchez vs. Andre Muniz — Middleweight
Nik Lentz vs. Movsar Evloev — Catchweight
Amir Albazi vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov — Flyweight