UFC 257: Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 2 confirmed for 23 January

The Irishman’s return to the octagon has finally been confirmed following his victory over Donald Cerrone in January

Conor McGregor against Dustin Poirier 2 has been confirmed by the UFC.

The rematch has been finalised and will headline UFC 257 on 23 January.

The Irishman, currently ranked No 4 in the lightweight division, knocked out Poirier, who is ranked No 2, back in 2014 at UFC 178.

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The winner could face the recently-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov, according to Dana White.

McGregor will be back in January (Getty)

“I think there's a good chance he does [come out of retirement],” White told TMZ. "His father wanted him to go 30-0, super emotional after that last fight, he'd been through a lot, a ton of s***.

"So, I think he will. Nothing's done. If I had to make a bet - and I'm a betting man - I would bet he does.

"You're looking at Conor McGregor and Poirier, who are going to fight. We're talking about Michael Chandler and Ferguson fighting, so we'll see how all these things play out here.

"Obviously we'd figure out whether he (Khabib) wanted to come back and if he does, one of those guys would definitely be in for the fight."

The news comes after the UFC superstar's manager, Audie Attar, confirmed plans to take on boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao in 2021.

A return to boxing will have to wait, following his knockout defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2017, with an opportunity to reign once more in the UFC with Khabib walking away from the sport for the time being.

“Conor has a fight on 23 January against Dustin Poirier,” Attar told Bloomberg. "He's gonna be handling business against Dustin first, but Conor's come out and said he wants to fight Manny. Manny's come out and said he wants to fight Conor. As I've stated publicly before, we've had conversations.

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"That is a fight that we're definitely going to make because both fighters want it, and there seems to be interest from the fans all around the world."