The UFC is closing in on a date for the final installment of the Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier trilogy.
With UFC president Dana White finally coming to terms with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement, the cogs of the lightweight division have begun to turn once again. Now that the title has officially been relinquished, the promotion has matched Michael Chandler against Charles Oliveira to crown a new champion at UFC 262. That event, which takes place May 15, had been rumored to play host to the final McGregor-Poirier pairing. However, it appears talks for that date between the camps had stalled, so the UFC decided to book the title fight then instead.
According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, with a flyweight title rematch between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno taking place in June, the UFC is now looking at July 10 – presumed to be UFC 264 – for the trilogy fight.
“There was once a hope McGregor-Poirier 3 fight would get done for May 15 but it’s taken longer than hoped/expected so they moved on from that a while ago, sources say,” Helwani wrote. “Won’t happen on June 12 (Figueiredo-Moreno on that card), so latest hope is the July 10 card. We’ll see.”
While there was a belief Poirier’s next fight would be for the title after stopping McGregor in the second round at UFC 257, both men had made it clear that they were more interested in running it back then any other fight on the table. In an interview with ESPN, White even went so far as to say McGregor is obsessed with getting revenge over Poirier (H/T Sportskeeda).
“He’s completely obsessed with the rematch now and wants the fight back,” White said. “We’re in for some incredible fights to find out which two of these guys from one to seven will square off to become the next world champion.”
For his part, Poirier has openly welcomed a rematch with McGregor over a potential title shot, and told Joe Rogan that he is already making preparations for the bout.
Dustin Poirier predicts the Conor McGregor trilogy fight to be completely different than the first two meetings
pic.twitter.com/uUoFSb1iug
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 26, 2021
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