An Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer, Conor McGregor is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight as well as lightweight champion. He is ranked no. 12 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings as of 23 November 2020 while as of 24 December 2020, he is no. 4 in the UFC lightweight rankings. The former two-weight champion McGregor is the highest-paid fighter in UFC history. On 6 June 2020, McGregor announced that he was retiring from fighting on social media.
As McGregor headlines the UFC 257, he is set to return to action next weekend with a clash against old rival Dustin Poirier. He has previously beaten Poirier at UFC 178 back in September 2014. Mcgregor has been training for his Octagon return despite retiring for the third time last year. In his comeback last January he beat Donald Cerronein in just 40 seconds. This was after his dramatic defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov. In 2019 Poirier also lost to Khabib but has claimed a number of fine wins since his defeat to McGregor and is a much-improved fighter now. The two are ready to meet again for the eagerly-anticipated clash.
In his tweet in early January. McGregor has vowed to put on a show when he finally gets back inside the Octagon stating “I promise a masterpiece”. According to his manager McGregor is looking much better now than he did before facing Floyd Mayweather, Khabib Nurmagomedov or Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. He mentions that spending time with his kids in between sessions has helped McGregor develop his mental fortitude, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness. It helps get foresight to understand what needs to be done going forward to achieve the current goals.
For his first-round knockout win over Donald Cerrone in January, he earned more than £23million. Although the purse for the upcoming bout is not yet known but he is expected to take home the lion’s share of the purse against Poirier. McGregor has vowed to donate a part of it to charity.
It has been confirmed that the UFC 257 will have a limited number of spectators in the Fight Island safe zone. There will be three Fight Island events coming up culminating in UFC 257 and McGregor v Poirier. After confirmation from the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, fans will be allowed in for all three shows. It will be the first time since March that a UFC event will have a live crowd. No further information was provided as to how limited attendance would be. Tickets are on sale now with prices ranging from 10,400 INR up to over 99,400 INR.
Date, time and venue
The McGregor v Poirier fight is set to take place on Saturday, January 23 at the Etihad Arena on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. The Etihad Arena has a maximum capacity of more than 18,000. The Early Prelims will take place from 4:30 am IST, while the Preliminary Card at 6:30 am IST. The Main Card will be held at 8.30 am IST.
