Dana White Reveals McGregor Has Been Offered Poirier Rematch For January 23

Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger - Zuffa LLC

The potential rematch between former world champions, Dustin 'The Diamond' Poirier and 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor has taken yet another twist this afternoon.

Offering a potential roadblock to a re-run, UFC leader, Dana White explained how McGregor had been offered the rematch with his lightweight counterpart at a January 23 event - but only on that date. 

McGregor had expressed his willingness to run back his September 2014 matching with Poirier, as potential preparation for a possible showdown with another southpaw, boxing world champion, Manny Pacquiao - but called for any possible rematch to take place in November or December of this year instead of January 2021.

The Dublin-born counter striker called for a matching with American Top Team mainstay Poirier at either UFC 255 or UFC 256 in November or December, respectively. Those two pay-per-view events have two title fights scheduled each, with Valentina Shevchenko set to meet with Jennifer Maia in a flyweight championship clash, while Deiveson Figueiredo looks to defend his 125-pound gold against Alex Perez in November. 

At UFC 256 on December 12th. - Petr Yan finally throws down with Aljamain Sterling at bantamweight, while Amanda Nunes headlines opposite Megan Anderson with featherweight gold up for grabs. 

Speaking with ESPN MMA reporter, Brett Okamoto - White claimed that McGregor had been offered the tentatively targeted January 23 date, and maintained that it was that event or burst more or less for that pairing, given the promotion's current schedule. 

"We offered him (Conor McGregor) a fight, we got him his own date," White said. "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 partners] ESPN and got him his own date. He's been offered Dustin Poirier on Jan. 23. It's a yes or no answer."

White claimed he had "no clue" why McGregor was fixated with clashing with Poirier in November of December rather than the opening month of next year - but maintained he couldn't alter the promotion's upcoming final quarter schedule to accommodate the former lightweight and featherweight best.

"That's not how it works," White explained. "We laid out this year. He was retired. Would anybody disagree he was retired? Through this crazy pandemic year we're going through, we faced a lot of challenges. There were a lot of things done to make this thing work. We made it happen. We have our schedule laid out. Fighters have committed to it. Fighters have started training for these fights. Conor came back and wants to fight Dustin, so we went out and got him his own date. It's Jan. 23."