Conor McGregor has accepted the 23 January date on offer from the UFC for his rematch with Dustin Poirier and wants the fight to take place at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas in front of a vast crowd.
The rematch between the Notorious and the Diamond has been touted for weeks and the UFC got on board, with president Dana White offering the January date to McGregor as they could not fit it into the schedule this year.
White described the offer as a ‘yes or no answer’ and he has got his response, although it will be McGregor’s only UFC fight for some time as he then plans to box Manny Pacquaio.
‘I accept, Jan 23rd is on!’ McGregor tweeted.
‘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. #McGregorSportsandEntertainment.’
Cowboy Stadium, now known as AT&T Stadium, is the home of the Dallas Cowboys and holds 80,000 but has been expanded to hold over 100,000 for huge events in recent years.
Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, met McGregor in 2018 when the Irishman first floated the idea of bringing the UFC to his arena.
Whether McGregor gets his wish or not is yet to be seen, the venue is certainly not confirmed at this stage.
In terms of holding a crowd, Texas is accepting licensure requests for combat sports events again for the first time since March and hopes to hold events with a crowd in the coming weeks.
Capacity will be capped at 50% at this stage, which could still see a huge crowd at Cowboy Stadium if that rule is still applied in January.
White will have to be convinced, but he will be delighted that McGregor is accepted the offer he confirmed on Wednesday.
‘We offered him a fight, we got him his own date,’ White told ESPN. ‘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 ESPN and got him his own date. He’s been offered Dustin Poirier on 23 Jan. It’s a yes or no answer.’
McGregor is then expecting a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao, which has already been confirmed as the plan by both teams.
Few details have emerged about the fight so far, other than it will be in the Middle East in 2021.
Poirier suggested that his second meeting with McGregor was being used as the Irishman to prepare for the Filipino, due to them both being southpaws and the Notorious admitted that was all part of the plan.
‘Going back to why I think he wants this fight, it’s because he’s angling to fight Pacquiao,’ Poirier told The Fight with Teddy Atlas. ‘That was in the news.
So I don’t know if the UFC wants him to fight one more time before they allow him to fight Pacquiao or if he just wants to get one more this year before starting next year with the Pacquiao fight, but what better way to do it against another southpaw?
‘I think that might be his mind set. He wants to fight another southpaw before he fights another southpaw. I don’t know what’s going on, but I think that’s what the alignment is.’
McGregor responded on Twitter: ‘Correct. Southpaw box style. Continue to sharpen my MMA skills with some tough competition, while leading into my Manny bout preparation.
‘It’s not easy going between both sports and then coming back to the one sport again. Just want to keep sharp guys, that’s all. It’s only fair.’
The first meeting between the pair came at UFC 178 in September 2014 and ended in a first round TKO for McGregor as the Irishman continued his rise up the featherweight ranks.
This contest will certainly not be at featherweight, but either lightweight, where Poirier campaigns, or even higher as McGregor last fought at welterweight against Donald Cerrone in January.
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