Dubai: It’s on. The long-awaited UFC rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier has been booked for January 23 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
McGregor, the former UFC two-division champion, took to twitter to break the news with a post that is going viral.
“My goal is to see this fight take place in Cowboy Stadium. Proper Style!”
McGregor defeated Poirier in just 1:46 minutes at UFC 178 in Las Vegas six years ago, but Poirier has since developed into one of the top flyweight fighters in the world and a leading title contender.
Both McGregor and Poirier have been actively talking of the rematch on Twitter with the Irishman saying: “I will be ready for Texas and Texas will be ready for my fans!”
He ended the tweet with two words that have taken the fight world by storm — “Then Manny” — a reference to his desire to face the Filipino icon, Pacquiao, in the boxing ring, possibly in the Middle East.
The AT&T Stadium in Texas looks the perfect fit to fight Poirier once more, as McGregor is a close friend of the stadium’s owner, Jerry Jones.
After introducing safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, AT&T Stadium is set to open at 25 per cent of capacity, allowing over 20,000 fans for the Cowboys’ football games.
McGregor had stonewalled negotiations to fight Poirier unless it was before the end of the year. after the headliner between welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns was cancelled.
“We offered him a fight, we got him his own date,” UFC boss Dana White told ESPN on Wednesday. “We didn’t have a date this year. We have everything laid out for this year, with world champions fighting for titles. He wants to fight Dustin Poirier apparently, so we went to ESPN and got him his own date.
“He’s been offered Dustin Poirier on January 23. It’s a yes or no answer.”
McGregor and the UFC have been at odds following his knockout of Donald Cerrone in January at UFC 246, and subsequent retirement after failing to book a top-level fight with Pacquiao.
He then attempted to put together a charity match with Poirier, without the help of UFC, which angered White.
