McGregor has UFC contract but ‘hasn’t signed’ to fight Poirier after pair exchange barbs on social media, reveals White
CONOR McGREGOR has been sent a contract to fight Dustin Poirier but ‘hasn’t signed’, UFC president Dana White revealed.
The Irishman – who beat Poirier in 2014 – has the chance to rematch the American on January 23.
But McGregor is yet to put pen to paper on the deal, though promoter White is not concerned as he ‘assume they are gonna fight’.
He told The Zach Gelb Show: “Poirier and McGregor, that deal isn’t signed. So, we’ll see how that plays out.
“Conor and Poirier got online and started talking about fighting. We sent bout agreements for both of them to fight and they haven’t signed them yet.
“I can’t speak for Poirier, but I know Conor hasn’t signed his. I don’t know if Dustin did.
“I’ve never had either guy say they would fight and then not fight. Conor’s never done that and neither has Dustin. So, I assume they are gonna fight.”
McGregor, 32, has not fought since the start of the year, knocking out 37-year-old Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds.
But he suddenly retired in June, having grown frustrated as he was frozen out of the lightweight title picture.
As he appears close to confirming his comeback, he does so with champion Khabib Nurmagomedov potentially vacating his belt.
Most read in MMA
It comes after Nurmagomedov, 32, announced he would be hanging up the gloves following his win against Justin Gaethje, 31.
McGregor responded by teasing a return to lightweight – where he has not fought since losing to Khabib in 2018.
He wrote online: “Fresh out of the McGregor FAST Laboratory today.
“Full body composition scan complete and the results came back = Lightweight Division incoming.”
Nurmagomeov’s trainer Javier Mendez cast doubt on whether his fighter is truly finished, but admitted Poirier, 31, should fight for the title if it does become vacant.
Mendez told SunSport: “If Khabib is retired, and I say if because I’m not 100 per cent, I’d say it’s Dustin against anybody in the top five.
“It has to be Dustin, you cannot have a title fight without using Dustin as the challenger, in my opinion.”