White: Poirier-McGregor 3 will probably take place ‘this summer’
“We’re probably going to try to put that fight together this summer”.
It looks like the UFC will be moving full steam ahead with Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 as Dana White recently announced that he is targeting a trilogy bout for this summer.
“Well, when you have two guys that are in their positions—Dustin is the No. 1 ranked guy in the world, you got Conor who is ranked No. 6, and they want the trilogy, you got to go with the trilogy,” White told ESPN’s Get Up on Friday (h/t Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting). “We’re probably going to try to put that fight together this summer.”
Not only is McGregor ‘completely obsessed’ with the rematch but White believes the Irishman overlooked Poirier at UFC 257 which is why the trilogy bout promises to be the best fight of the series.
“If you look at Conor, if you look at the way he fought, the leg kicks that he was eating, the stance he was in, he was completely overlooking Dustin Poirier,” White said. “I’m not taking anything away from Poirier, but when you pull in on a super yacht [in Abu Dhabi] and you’re living the life that Conor lives, you need to be hungry and you need to take every guy serious. It doesn’t matter how you beat Dustin Poirier the first time, that’s not the same guy you are going to be facing and obviously Dustin Poirier is training like it’s the most important fight of his life.
“There were a lot of things lined up there for the upset. I guess the good part is the trilogy McGregor is hungrier that he’s ever been, he wants this fight back, he wants this fight badly so it will be a fun third fight.”
McGregor KO’d Poirier in a featherweight contest back in 2014 but found himself on the receiving end of a knockout six years later at UFC 257, losing to ‘The Diamond’ via second-round TKO.
Expect an official fight announcement in the coming weeks.