UFC 257 Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier: Start time, how to stream or watch online and a full battle map

Ready for UFC 257? It’s finally time for the return of Conor McGregor, who just fought once last year, thanks to the disruption of the COVID-19. But now McGregor is back in the Octagon for UFC 257, battling lightweight candidate Dustin Poirier. The fighters gained weight. Now only McGregor and Poirier are left to walk.

With the current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov Although officially retired, this game is seen by many as a title-switch. Most likely the winner will fight for the belt later in 2021, possibly against Charles Oliveira or the winner of Dan Hooker against Michael Chandler.

In the wings also threatens Nurmagomedov, who according to Dana White will be watching UFC 257. If someone does something spectacular, reports say, he may return for his UFC lightweight title defense.

The fight takes place on the UFC’s Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

Start times: Today (Saturday 23 January):

• The main card starts at 22:00 ET (19:00 PT)
• The preliminary round starts at 20:00 ET (17:00 PT).
• The early pre-matches start at 18.30 ET (15.30 PT)

This is not the first time this battle has taken place. McGregor comfortably defeated Poirier the last time they fought at UFC 178 six years ago, but Poirier has improved dramatically since then. He defeated Max Holloway for the UFC Interim Lightweight Championship, and put on a decent show against Nurmagomedov, the current lightweight king. The unbeaten Nurmagomedov also beat McGregor in 2018.

Despite Poirier’s improvements, most strangers have McGregor as a clear favorite in this fight. His destruction of Donald Cerrone in 2020, combined with the style match, most people consider it a favorable fight for McGregor. Poirier is primarily a boxer and McGregor is still the sharpest striker at £ 155.

McGregor also appears to be in phenomenal shape and is, according to most reports, as motivated as he has been since his legendary first time in featherweight. We can do something special with this performance. McGregor predicted he would win the battle within 60 seconds.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the UFC’s Inside the Octagon series, which breaks down the game. The McGregor vs Poirier one is already online.

But outside of the instant event, UFC 257 runs deep. Michael Chandler makes his UFC debut against the night machine Dan Hooker in a compelling co-main event and the undercard is littered with names like Joanne Calderwood. There are a lot of good matches in there.

Weigh

Both fighters of the main event gained weight. If you missed it, here’s the last face between McGregor and Poirier …

However, the map lost some battles in the sub-map. See below for the full battle map.

How to watch UFC 257

This year, the UFC entered into a new partnership with ESPN. This is good news for the UFC and the expansion of the MMA sport, but bad news for consumer choices. Especially if you’re one of the UFC fans who wants to watch UFC live in the US.

It is noteworthy, however, that the UFC has increased the price of PPVs, with UFC 257.

In the US, if you want to know how to watch UFC 257, you can first find the fight night on PPV via ESPN Plus. The cost structure is a bit confusing, but here are the options to watch UFC on ESPN, according to ESPN’s website:

• Existing annual ESPN Plus subscribers can order the upcoming UFC fight for $ 70.
• Existing monthly ESPN Plus subscribers will be able to upgrade to an annual plan and buy UFC PPV for $ 85 or buy the opportunity to watch the UFC event on PPV for $ 70 per se.
• New ESPN Plus subscribers can purchase a bundle of one UFC PPV (streaming in HD) event and an annual ESPN Plus subscription for $ 90. This is a decent deal. The previous volume saved 25%, but this new bundle saved 35%. The ESPN Plus Annual ESPN Subscription will be automatically renewed after one year, at the cost of an ESPN Plus Annual Subscription at the time of renewal.

You can do all of the above at the link below.

MMA fans in the United Kingdom can watch UFC 257 exclusively through BT Sport. There are more options if you live Australia. You can watch UFC 257 through Main Event on Foxtel. You can also check out the UFC website or use the app. You can even order with your PlayStation or the UFC app on your Xbox.