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Just one more month to go before it's that time of the year again. A Conor McGregor fight is coming up and the excitement levels are set to hit fever-pitch soon. Arguably the biggest draw in the UFC, Conor McGregor returns to action after a year in the main event of UFC 257 on January 23 in a rematch of epic proportions against Dustin Poirier.
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According to UFC president Dana White, the fight is likely to take place at the Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and the promotion is looking to host fans for the first time since COVID-related restrictions barred fans from attending live events. White also said that he is looking to resurrect the International Fight Week with “concerts, pool parties, and all kinds of cool stuff” at Fight Island.
“It would be good to have fans,” White told Barstool Sports. “The thing is, from ‘Fight Island’ we can get fans all over the world there. It’s an easy destination to get to, a fun destination to go to, and we can just blow the doors off this thing.”
“I’m ready for some fights with fans. I’m ready to go to a live concert. I’m ready to have some parties. I’m gonna go to all this shit. I want to mingle with the fans again. I want the fans back. We’ve figured this whole thing out up to now. We’ll figure out how to do do this safely and pull this thing off in Abu Dhabi.”
Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 2 - A rematch six years in the making
The first time Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor squared off against one another was at UFC 178 back in September 2014. After weeks of heated trash-talk ahead of the fight, the pair finally got to put their hands on one another and when they did, the Irishman stole the show. McGregor promised to knock Poirier out in the first round and he did it in dominating fashion.
A left hook that caught Poirier flush on the temple was all it took for The Diamond to go down as McGregor followed it up with a couple of nasty blows to seal the deal. It was at that moment that the world took notice of the superstar Conor McGregor looked set to become. Since then both men, in their own right, have gone on to achieve a lot inside the Octagon.
Conor McGregor went on to become the interim UFC featherweight champion by beating Chad Mendes in the headliner of UFC 189. He then unified the title by scoring a stunning 13 second knockout of former champion Jose Aldo at UFC 194. McGregor later jumped a weight class to take a shot at the lightweight title at UFC 205. Conor McGregor once again rose to the occasion by beating Eddie Alvarez to become the first man to simultaneously hold two titles in UFC history.
Poirier redeemed himself post the Conor McGregor fight by picking up four-straight wins inside the octagon before being stopped by Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Johnson in 2016. Poirier later fought for the interim lightweight title against Max Holloway at UFC 236. He won the fight via unanimous decision and became the interim champion. He went on to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi but came up short.
Following his violent TKO win against fight game veteran Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, Conor McGregor announced his retirement citing recent inactivity as one of the main reasons for hanging up his gloves. However, earlier this year, Poirier and McGregor agreed to participate in a charity exhibition bout that'd have "zero to do with the UFC". It was then that Dana White and team decided to book the pair for a fight inside the Octagon.
While it was initially reported that Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier would fight each other at welterweight, it was later confirmed that the bout will indeed take place in the lightweight division. This might have something to do with the fact that Khabib Nurmagomedov has recently retired and the winner of this fight may become the new lightweight champion, or definitely the top-contender for the seemingly vacant title.
