ABU DHABI – Fans will most likely not be in attendance for the potential Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier rematch.
A second encounter between top lightweight contenders McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) and Poirier (27-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) is seemingly on the cusp of being finalized for Jan. 23. Both have publicly agreed to the matchup.
McGregor, however, said he’d like the fight to happen at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, outside Dallas, where a potential 50 percent capacity could be filled in the venue that, when completely full, is capable of holding roughly 100,000 fans.
White has been consistent in his stance that he’s not going to rush getting UFC events back into venues with a limited number of fans, though. He wants it to be all or nothing, and as things currently stand, it’s nothing.
“We’ve have a very good relationship with (Jerry) Jones for a long time and we’ve talked about Dallas Texas stadium for a while,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Friday after the UFC on ESPN+ 38 faceoffs in Abu Dhabi.”We’re not going into any arena where we’re going to fill a quarter of the arena or half the arena. So when crowds are ready to come back, we’ll do crowds again.”
White said he doesn’t know exactly how far off a return for fans will be. He hinted that changes could be coming sooner rather than later, though, especially with the U.S. presidential election right around the corner.
“When we all leave ‘Fight Island’ and go home, we’re literally days away from the election,” White said. “I truly believe that the election’s going to have a huge impact on all the bull(expletive) that we’ve been dealing with for the last however many months. I’m hoping that a lot of this is going to go away after the election.”
Nevertheless, all signs point to McGregor vs. Poirier happening. Neither has officially signed on for the rematch of the September 2014 fight that McGregor won by first-round knockout, and terms must be reached. They’ve verbally agreed, however, and White said it’s now about finalizing the process.
“He said yes and Dustin said yes,” White said. “So, now it’s a matter of getting contracts signed.”