Conor McGregor is to meet UFC lightweight rival Dustin Poirier for a third time after claiming two days ago that the fight was off.
Poirier claimed victory when the pair met at UFC 257 in January and McGregor had told his American opponent in an expletive-laden Twitter exchange that their trilogy fight scheduled for July 10th was “off”.
But UFC president Dana White said in a video posted on his Twitter account: "I am so happy to finally be able to say that Vegas is back. This summer Las Vegas is open for business and on July 10th, UFC 264 will be at the T-Mobile Arena at 100 per cent capacity at 20,000 fans.
“This fight will be headlined by the third fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Tickets go on sale this week.”
McGregor suffered a shock defeat to Poirier in their rematch on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi in January.
The 32-year-old Irishman started well in front of around 2,000 fans but was discomforted by persistent kicks to his lead right calf, and Poirier capitalised to secure a dramatic stoppage midway through the second round.
McGregor had previously battered Poirier inside two minutes in September 2014 en route to becoming a two-weight UFC champion and global superstar.
He said at his post-fight press conference in Abu Dhabi, “I’ll keep my eyes on the prize” and “Don’t write me off yet”, but the Poirier defeat was only his third mixed martial arts contest since November 2016.
Earlier this week Poirier responded to McGregor’s Instagram post, in which the Irishman predicted he would win the bout in the fourth round.
McGregor then tweeted: “The fight is off btw (by the way). I’m going to fight someone else on the 10th. Good luck on your old contract kid.”
On Wednesday, however, McGregor clearly had a change of heart as he retweeted a UFC poster of their forthcoming third fight, which said: “Let’s settle it in the Octagon.”
