Well, according to the official UFC’s Twitter chatbot, the UFC 257 main event between former opponent, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier and ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor is now for the lightweight championship, despite it’s earlier billing as a five-round bout.
Slated to headline the ‘Fight Island’ event on January 23. — Poirier looks to avenge his 2014 featherweight knockout loss to the Dubliner, with the victor widely viewed as the number-one contender to the lightweight championship currently held by Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov.
According to a number of Twitter accounts last night, when direct messaging the official UFC Twitter account requesting details regarding the event, a chatbot will reply with, “Don’t miss (Dustin) Poirier take on (Conor) McGregor for the lightweight title bout. Who do you think will walk out the Octagon with the W?“
A title matchup of Poirier and McGregor would come as quite surprising news, given the fact the promotion continues to promote the above mentioned, Khabib as the undisputed lightweight titleholder, as well as the organization’s pound-for-pound number one fighter despite his decision to announce his retirement from professional mixed martial arts back in October last.
Following his successful title unification win against then-interim titleholder, Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje in October at UFC 254, Khabib, who unfortunately lost his father and renowned sambo coach, Abdulmanap last year after complications due to contracting COVID-19, detailed how he had made a promise to his mother that he wouldn’t compete professionally again without his father by his side.
In the weeks and months afterwards, UFC president, Dana White, who initially claimed the mixed martial arts world were lucky to see Khabib compete at all following the passing of his father, then detailed how he was confident the Dagestan native would snap a retirement in search of an undefeated 30-0 résumé — suggesting a possible rematch with McGregor should the 32-year-old get past Poirier again. White would later reveal how he expects to have a meeting with Khabib in January with discussions regarding his fighting future mooted.
As far as Khabib is concerned, however, he recently noted his confusion as to why he’s still billed as the lightweight pacesetter, before claiming that the winner of Poirier vs. McGregor 2 would compete for his championship down the line, in a potential vacant title match.