Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier looks very likely to happen in 2021, but the weight class in which both fighters will compete is still uncertain.
In an interview with BT Sports to promote UFC 254, Dana White was asked about the possibility of McGregor vs Poirier happening at 170lbs and where he stands on this topic.
“Conor likes to play games, he likes to play games and then he does his thing. One thing Conor doesn’t do? Conor doesn’t commit to a fight and then not fight.”
“It’s 155lbs.” White told Adam Catteral, “I’m not putting on a frigging’ multi-million dollars fight at a catchweight, it means nothing, that fight means nothing at 170. Neither one of them is ranked at 170lbs, and it doens’t do anything in the 155lbs division if either one of them win, because they’re fighting at 170 and it literally makes no sense.”
On this matter, it appears as if White agrees with the lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov recently talked to TSN saying that to him, Poirier and McGregor need to fight at 155lbs to earn a title shot.
Poirier (26-6) is coming off of a unanimous decision win over Dan Hooker. A potential fight against Tony Ferguson was rumored for a long time but never happened due to failed negotiations. However, it seems Poirier might have struck gold with McGregor. Not only is a fight against the Irishman a huge financial boost, but a win over the former lightweight champion could earn him another shot at the title and allow him to avenge a loss.
McGregor on the other end was last seen in the octagon at UFC 246 against Donald Cerrone. McGregor knocked out “Cowboy” in the first round but has been out of the fighting world since then. But it seems that a rematch against Dustin Poirier is an interesting matchup to McGregor.
Nevertheless, if the two men thought about fighting at 170lbs or a catchweight, they’ll have to revisit that idea. Dana White has made it clear that a fight of this magnitude must happen in the lightweight division.
