The Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch is inching closer to reality.
Poirier has signed a fight agreement to fight in the Jan. 23 main event of UFC 257 versus McGregor, UFC president Dana White confirmed to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The fight would take place at 155 pounds.
White stated that McGregor was sent the bout agreement on Tuesday but has yet to sign it. McGregor, sources said, verbally agreed to the fight last month and is not expected to be a hurdle in making the bout a reality.
“Jan. 23 on Fight Island, if everything goes according to plans,” White said of the bout. “There are a ton of if’s right now. I have to see where the world is at in the next couple of months.”
The UFC was having a hard time recently coming to terms with Poirier, according to sources. So much so, that there had even been internal discussions to book McGregor against someone else on Jan. 23, if they couldn’t get Poirier to agree to a deal.
In the end, though, Poirier signed a bout agreement to fight McGregor early next year.
The booking means McGregor will return to action a little over a year after his last fight: a 40-second TKO victory over Donald Cerrone on Jan. 18, 2020. That was supposed to be one of several fights for McGregor this year, however the pandemic and issues with the UFC halted those plans.
McGregor was so frustrated earlier this year that he briefly announced his retirement on social media. He’ll ultimately return to action versus an opponent he defeated at UFC 178 via first-round TKO, Poirier.
“The pandemic has thrown up all sorts of difficulties for people. But everybody has tried to cram the programme into a smaller period.”
