A nontitle UFC lightweight rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier is official for UFC 257 on Saturday, as both fighters successfully made weight during Friday’s weigh-in.
McGregor (22-4), a former undisputed champion at lightweight, weighed in at 155 pounds. Poirier (26-6), who won an interim lightweight championship in 2019, tipped the scales at 156. The contest headlines UFC 257 on Saturday inside Etihad Arena.
This will mark the second contest between the two lightweights. The first took place in 2014 and at the 145-pound featherweight limit. McGregor knocked out Poirier just 1:46 into the bout with his infamous left hand. That would actually be Poirier’s final fight at featherweight, as he moved up to the lightweight division in his next bout.
McGregor has competed at lightweight only twice in his UFC career. He won the belt in his UFC lightweight debut in late 2016 by knocking out then-champion Eddie Alvarez. In 2018, he lost to defending champion Khabib Nurmagomedov via submission in the fourth round. McGregor, 32, has repeatedly said he has crafted his frame for an extended 155-pound run in 2021.
In the co-main event, former Bellator MMA lightweight champion Michael Chandler (21-5) and New Zealand’s Dan Hooker (20-9) each successfully made weight. Chandler and Hooker came in at 156 pounds.
It’s a massive week for the lightweight division, as UFC president Dana White has teased that Nurmagomedov, who announced his retirement after submitting Justin Gaethje in October, could return for one more fight if any of the four top lightweights on the card is impressive enough. Nurmagomedov, for his part, has repeatedly said he does not intend to fight anytime soon, but he nevertheless remains the current lightweight champion.
Outside of the top two fights, there was a bit of drama at the UFC 257 weigh-ins. Nasrat Haqparast did not make it to the scales in the allocated two-hour window and as a result he is out of his fight against Arman Tsarukyan.
Tsarukyan missed weight on both his first and second attempts, ultimately coming in at 157 pounds, one pound over the lightweight limit, but he will stay on the card and face Matt Frevola, whose bout against Ottman Azaitar was canceled early in the weigh-ins. Frevola successfully weighed in and agreed to fight Tsarukyan, who will forfeit 20% of his purse.
Khalil Rountree Jr. initially missed weight for his bout against Marcin Prachnio, coming in at 206.5 pounds, but returned to the scale in the allocated extra time and hit the 206-pound mark, the maximum for a light heavyweight bout.
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