A historic evening, exceptional announcements. A few hours after the end of a UFC 300 which kept all its promises on the night of Saturday to Sunday near Las Vegas, Dana White, the boss of the UFC, spoke about the upcoming deadlines for the world MMA organization. And he neither more nor less announced the official return to the cage of Conor McGregor, the legendary Irish fighter.
The former featherweight and lightweight world champion will challenge Michael Chandler at UFC 303, scheduled for June 29, still in Las Vegas.
Absent since his two consecutive losses conceded in January and June 2021 against his rival Dustin Poirier, McGregor was eagerly awaited by all MMA fans. “The Notorious” had notably spoken of the “greatest comeback in the history of sport” when announcing his return to competition in 2024. The fight will take place in the -77kg category, in five rounds .
Poirier will fight for the belt
Another major announcement: Dustin Poirier, recent winner of French fighter Benoît Saint-Denis in Miami, will have a chance to obtain the belt and the -70kg world title by facing the champion of the category and reference in world MMA, Islam Makhachev.
This highly anticipated fight will take place in the main event of UFC 302 in Newark on June 1. A meeting which will also be animated by the clash between Sean Strickland, former holder of the -84kg belt, defeated in January by Dricus Du Plessis, and the Brazilian Paulo Costa.
