UFC 257: Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier headlines loaded tripleheader of cards in return to Fight Island
Three events will go down within a week in January when the UFC returns to Fight Island

The UFC is taking a big swing on Fight Island in January, with three events over one week, culminating in UFC 257, headlined by Conor McGregor's return to the Octagon against Dustin Poirier. "Triple Header Week" kicks off with UFC Fight Night on Jan. 16, followed by another Fight Night on Jan. 20 before UFC 257 on Jan. 23.
All three events will take place at Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The venue has served as the UFC's home for international events during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The first event held during the pandemic on the man-made island was UFC 251 this past July.
The Jan. 16 card is headlined by a clash between former featherweight champion Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar. Holloway has dropped back-to-back fights to Alexander Volkanovski, losing the featherweight championship and failing to win it back in the rematch. Kattar is a rising star in the division and will enter the fight on a two-fight winning streak, knocking out Jeremy Stephens and taking a decision win over Dan Ige.
Holloway-Kattar!
— UFC (@ufc) December 23, 2020
Edwards-Chimaev!
Poirier-McGregor 2!
Welcome back to #UFCFightIsland 🏝
[ #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/t2P0ixMGoO
On Jan. 20, Khamzat Chimaev was looking to score the biggest win of his career as he was slated to face Leon Edwards in a welterweight clash. Unfortunately, that fight has been scrapped after Chimaev was forced out of the bout for undisclosed reasons. The two were originally set to meet on Dec. 19, but the fight was postponed after both men tested positive for COVID-19. It's unclear what fight will headline the event, but Edwards could potentially face Michael Chiesa or Neil Magny as they were also scheduled for a welterweight fight at the event.
McGregor will be returning from yet another brief retirement when he rematches Poirier. The two first met in September 2014 with McGregor scoring a TKO win in less than two minutes. McGregor has only fought twice since 2016, losing a bid to regain the lightweight championship when submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018, retiring and then returning to knock out Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds in January 2020. Since 2016, Poirier has gone on a 6-1 run. In that time he captured the interim lightweight championship by dominating Holloway, but subsequently lost in his unification bout with lightweight king Nurmagomedov. He rebounded from that loss in his most recent fight, beating Dan Hooker in a thrilling battle this past June.















