Report: Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 2 Set For UFC 257

Photo by Tommy Lakes / Severe MMA

The much speculated lightweight fight between Conor McGregor (22-4) and Dustin Poirier (26-6) has been booked for UFC 257 on Saturday 23rd January 2021, according to a report by MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani further clarified that while Poirier has signed a bout agreement, McGregor is yet to put pen to paper. However, Helwani noted that McGregor has previously verbally agreed to the fight and is unlikely to pose any hurdles to the contest coming to fruition.

A rematch over 6 years in the making, McGregor and Poirier first competed back at UFC 178 in a featherweight contest that saw McGregor knock Poirier out within the first 2 minutes of round 1.

McGregor would go on to dethrone the then featherweight king José Aldo before moving up to claim the UFC lightweight title, establishing himself as both the promotion’s first ever dual-weight champion and the biggest star in MMA history.

Poirier vacated the featherweight division after that McGregor loss, amassing a 10-2 record at 155lbs, which saw the Louisiana native claim the UFC interim lightweight title over Max Holloway in 2019. Like McGregor, Poirier succumbed to the prowess of undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, but “The Diamond” remains a force to be reckoned with at the pinnacle of the UFC’s deepest division.

Photo by Tommy Lakes / Severe MMA

Despite the one-sided beating when the pair first met, a rematch makes a lot of sense in 2020. Amidst uncertainty over the future of the UFC lightweight division in the aftermath of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s announced retirement, McGregor (#4) and Poirier (#2) are the only fighters inside the division’s top 5 who were victorious in their last UFC outings, priming the contest to potentially serve as a championship matchup should Khabib vacate or be stripped of his title. An interim title isn’t out of the question either should the uncertainty around Khabib’s retirement linger into 2021.

McGregor vs Poirier 2 is a fantastic matchup, arguably a much better contest than their first meeting. Both athletes have performed to the best of their ability after hitting the 155lbs mark on weigh-in day, and neither is the same fighter he was back in 2014. Now, more than ever, this rematch makes sense.