Speaking with FOX Sports, UFC president Dana White suggested that American lightweight athlete Dustin Poirier would make a logical next opponent for the Irish MMA star, Conor McGregor, while Tony Ferguson would potentially be fighting Russia’s Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title.
“The ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone fight has never, ever been discussed. That’s completely not true. I said the fight that makes sense right now is probably Poirier. Then Tony gets a shot at the title and the two winners fight each other”, he said.
Poirier has already teased fans on Twitter, posting a picture of red panties in an apparent reference to McGregor’s words at a 2015 press conference with Brazil’s Rafael dos Anjos:
“I can make you rich. I change your bum life. You fight me, it’s a celebration. When you sign to fight me, it’s a celebration. You ring back home, you ring your wife. ‘Baby, we’ve done it. We’re rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich. Break out the red panties”, McGregor said at the time.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov are both facing suspensions and fines from the Nevada State Athletic Commission in the wake of the post-fight brawl in October, and will have to appear before the commission on 10 December in Las Vegas for disciplinary hearings.
“I’m not sure on a date when Conor is gonna fight yet. We have to get through this Nevada State Athletic Commission stuff first. Who knows what these guys are going to get for suspensions? If it was just a fine, that would be one thing”, White said.
Poirier and McGregor previously faced off at UFC 178 in 2014, with The Notorious defeating the American fighter by a first-round TKO in a featherweight fight. Four years on, McGregor claimed featherweight and lightweight titles; Poirier also managed to improve his results, having lost just once since then.