UFC president Dana White has provided another update about the ongoing talks to book a highly anticipated rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
Earlier in the week, the UFC boss was forced to publicly deny a deal was done for McGregor and Poirier to rematch amid reports to the contrary.
“Jan. 23 on Fight Island, if everything goes according to plans,” White said. “There are a ton of if’s right now. I have to see where the world is at in the next couple of months.”
A few days later and White told ESPN that he is unsure about the status of the fight which is still waiting on McGregor’s signature.
“I don’t know (if he signed it yet). Listen, I’m not worried about it,” White said. “Conor McGregor has never said, ‘Listen I want to fight,’ gone out the way that he’s gone out, talked about it. We got him his own date. Conor McGregor’s going to show up and fight. I’m not worried about his bout agreement, but I don’t know if it’s been signed. I’m assuming it has, but it wasn’t the other day when I texted the fight wasn’t done yet.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
If booked, it will mark McGregor’s return to action after over a year after previously returning in January this year where he needed just 40 seconds to TKO Donald Cerrone in the UFC 246 headliner.
Poirier, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Dan Hooker in June. He previously faced McGregor in a featherweight bout back in 2014 but would suffer a first-round TKO defeat. “The Diamond” has since gone on to enjoy a successful lightweight career and even managed to pick up an interim belt by beating Max Holloway. Poirier fell short when attempting to unify the division against Khabib Nurmagomedov who is now retired.
When do you think Dana White will announce this fight?