UFC chief Dana White confirmed Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will clash on January 23 as both fighters have agreed to the date offered but it seemed unlikely that the rematch will be held at the AT&T Stadium, as proposed by McGregor. White said the venue will either be in Las Vegas or Abu Dhabi.
While the contracts have yet to be signed, White said the fight is essentially a go but in the Dallas Cowboys home, which can welcome up to 80,000 spectators, that The Notorious had mentioned. The UFC president pointed to the Apex facility in Vegas or the Fight Island in the Middle East as the more favorable scene of the bout.
White explained he will only do UFC fights in a stadium if people are allowed to watch the live event and the arena can be filled. But the present context discourages in-person attendance so the AT&T site is out of the question.
"I'm not going into any arena where we're going to fill a quarter of the arena or half of the arena or any of that stuff, so when crowds are ready to come back we'll do crowds again," Talk Sport reported White as saying.
He added that in ruling out the AT&T Stadium for the second McGregor vs Poirier meet, it does not mean that the UFC is unwilling to do business with Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys' home arena. White made clear that he and Jones have a good relationship.
It's just that given the present situation will not permit a live audience and White said: "I'm not going to any arena I can't fill."
Meanwhile, John Kavanagh, McGregor's coach, reported on social media that the Irishman has started training for the welterweight showdown with Poirier. The workouts have been a joy to watch so far and Kavanagh teased it will be "a fascinating" match.
"Fluidity of movement with elite level timing and skill," the South China Morning Post reported Kavanagh as saying in a Twitter post.
The coach acknowledged that Poirier has since become a better fighter since first slugging it out with McGregor in 2014, in which the American was defeated by a TKO. However, Kavanagh hinted McGregor has improved a lot more than Poirier.
The UFC rematch in January is deemed a tune-up for McGregor's bigger fight date in 2021 and Poirier himself made a guesswork that The Notorious picked him because he is a southpaw. And that should mean McGregor is preparing for his duel with Manny Pacquiao, who is a southpaw too.
The Notorious confirmed he is indeed making preparations for the mega-fight with the Filipino boxing icon sometime next year and admitted his decision to meet Poirier inside the octagon again is to further sharpen his fighting skills.
