Conor McGregor Confirms His Next UFC Fight Date, Opponent

Former UFC Featherweight and UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor took to Twitter on Wednesday to confirm his next MMA fight will be against Dustin Poirier at an upcoming UFC event on Jan. 23. McGregor wrote, “I accept, Jan 23rd is on! My goal is to see this fight take place in Cowboy stadium. Proper Style! Jerry Jones is a friend and the stadium can hold our crowd. I will be ready for Texas and Texas will be ready for my fans! Then Manny.”

By “Manny,” McGregor was referring to the potential boxing match between himself and Manny Pacquiao. UFC President Dana White confirmed earlier in the day that the promotion had offered McGregor the fight but couldn’t do it any sooner than January.

“We offered him a fight. We got him his own date,” 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 [broadcast partner] ESPN and got him his own date. He’s been offered Dustin Poirier on Jan. 23. It’s a yes or no answer.”

McGregor claimed back in June that he was retired from MMA, though it was mostly due to him being frustrated over not getting booked for another fight during the COVID-19 pandemic. His last fight was against Donald Cerrone back in January, who he beat with a first-round TKO.

The 22-4 fighter previously faced Piorier in 2014 and won via first-round TKO at UFC 178. Since then he’s won 10 fights, including a bout against Max Holloway in April 2019 to become the interim Lightweight Champion.

As for his return to the world of boxing, it was Pacquiao that first brought up the fight by releasing a statement last month.

“For the sake of all the Filipino COVID-19 victims, Senator Manny Pacquiao will be fighting UFC superstar Conor McGregor next year. The huge portion of his earnings will proceed to those who are affected nationwide by the pandemic,” the statement partially read. “But our beloved Senator doesn’t want to talk about boxing since we are in the middle of the pandemic and this is not the right time for it. His main focus right now is to help here and there, providing relief, shelter, money and food, among other necessities.”

“Regarding the news coming from McGregor himself, we don’t deny it,” he continued. “In fact, our lawyers are finalizing all the confidential detail, but both fighters are getting ready for this one epic last boxing fight. According to Paradigm Sports Management head Audie Attar, the fight may happen in the Middle East next year.”