Conor McGregor doesn’t look beyond Dustin Poirier, but “The Notorious” certainly had an overview as he prepared for the UFC 257 main event on Saturday on “Fight Island.” And this overview includes staying active and, finally, fighting for the lightweight belt.
Current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made it clear that he intends to retire and it seems a matter of whether – not when – Nurmagomedov relinquishes his belt, so Saturday’s main event has huge implications for the title.
ESPN has Poirier in 3rd place and McGregor in 10th place in the world at 155 pounds. It will be McGregor’s first fight since a 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 in January 2020 and the first time in a lightweight after a 2018 loss to Nurmagomedov. McGregor and Poirier fought before, with McGregor winning a TKO featherweight bout in the first round at UFC 178 in 2014.
McGregor (22-4) has won three of his last four fights, the only loss of that period coming to Nurmagomedov in a title fight. The Irish native was the first double competitor in UFC history to win the lightweight belt against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016, while holding the featherweight title. McGregor, 32, is the biggest money maker in UFC history and even surpassed MMA in 2017, going into boxing in a match against Floyd Mayweather.
Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) has only one loss in the last eight fights, also against Nurmagomedov. The Louisiana native, who trains from the top American team in Florida, will win a unanimous decision over Dan Hooker in June last year. Poirier, 32, is 10-2 (1 NC) since losing in 2014 to McGregor and has been a perennial lightweight competitor.
In the main event, the former three-time Bellator champion, Michael Chandler, will make his long-awaited UFC debut against Hooker. ESPN has Hooker No. 6 and Chandler No. 7 in the lightweight world. The winner would also enter the conversation with the title.
Also on the card, Jessica Eye and Joanne Calderwood meet in a women’s flyweight match; Amanda Ribas faces Marina Rodriguez in a women’s fight with a straw competitor; and top potential Arman Tsarukyan takes Matt Frevola in an easy contest.
Fight in progress:
Catchweight (£ 150): Movsar Evloev (13-0, 3-0 UFC, -575) vs. Nik Lentz (30-11-2 1 NC, 14-8-1 1 NC UFC +425)
Results:
Men’s Bite Weight: Amir Albazi (14-1, 2-0 UFC) vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (13-5, 0-2 UFC) by unanimous decision
Recapitulate to come.
He is coming; are being delivered:
Lightweight: Dustin Poirier (26-6 1 NC, 18-5 1 NC UFC, +250) vs. Conor McGregor (22-4, 10-2 UFC, -310)
Light: Dan Hooker (20-9, 10-5 UFC, -140) vs. Michael Chandler (21-5, 0-0 UFC, +120)
Female Bite Weight: Jessica Eye (15-8 1 NC, 5-7 1 NC UFC +100) vs. Joanne Calderwood (14-5, 6-5 UFC, -120)
Average weight: Andrew Sanchez (13-5, 5-3 UFC, +120) vs. Makhmud Muradov (24-6, 2-0 UFC, -140)
Straw weight: Marina Rodriguez (12-1-2, 2-1-2 UFC, +260) vs. Amanda Ribas (10-1, 4-0 UFC, -330)
Light: Matt Frevola (8-1-1, 2-1-1 UFC, +475) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (15-2, 2-1 UFC, -650)
Average weight: Brad Tavares (17-7, 12-6 UFC, -125) vs. Antonio Carlos Junior (11-4 1 NC, 7-4 1 NC UFC, +105)
Women’s Bantam Weight: Julianna Pena (10-4, 5-2 UFC, +110) vs. Sara McMann (12-5, 6-5 UFC, -130)
Lightweight: Khalil Rountree Jr. (9-4, 2-2 UFC, -330) vs. Marcin Prachnio (13-5, 0-3 UFC, +260)