Saturday night, Conor McGregor will make his long-anticipated return to the UFC. He will face off with Dustin Poirier during the main event of UFC 257 from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Here is when the battle takes place and how to watch.
UFC 257 begins at 8 p.m. ET with the prelim fights. These early bouts are available on ESPN and fuboTV. The main card follows at 10 p.m. ET and is exclusive to ESPN+. The streaming service is available on Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV and Tablet, iPhone and iPad, Oculus Go, and across Android phones and tablets. As a pay-per-view event, UFC 257 will cost $69.99.
Videos by PopCulture.com
RT b/c IT’S FIGHT DAY 🗣
💎 @DustinPoirier vs 🇮🇪 @TheNotoriousMMA
[ Get the #UFC257 PPV: https://t.co/ZSsZOYmZMy | B2YB @GEICO ] pic.twitter.com/4gBueQ6S22
— UFC (@ufc) January 23, 2021
The main event featuring McGregor and Poirier will be a rematch of a previous bout from 2014. The two men faced off during UFC 178, with McGregor securing a first-round knockout victory in less than two minutes. He went on to win both the featherweight and lightweight titles while becoming one of the biggest names in Mixed Martial Arts.
Speaking with ESPN before UFC 257, Poirier explained how he is different from the fighter that lost to McGregor six years ago. He said that he was angry at the time about the UFC seemingly setting him up to fail in order to make the Irishman a star, leading to a near-fight at the weigh-in. Years later, however, Poirier has adopted a different mindset. He no longer has any illusions about his role within the sport of MMA or the UFC.
“All those things I thought, they probably were true — but I’m not in a fight with these guys,” Poirier told ESPN. “Maturity has taught me these guys aren’t my friends. The UFC is not my people. They’re providing an arena for me to perform. It’s up to me. It’s in my hands. I’m writing the book page by page, and I understand that now.”
Along with the McGregor-Poirier fight, UFC 257’s main card will feature other standout fighters. Dan Hooker will take on Michael Chandler in a lightweight bout while Joanna Calderwood will fight Jessica Eye in a women’s flyweight match. Additionally, Amanda Ribas will face off with Marina Rodriguez in a women’s strawweight match. Makhmud Muradov and Andrew Sanchez will start the main card with a middleweight fight.
