Dana White: Dustin Poirier made right call wanting trilogy fight with Conor McGregor

LAS VEGAS – The signs are pointing to a Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor trilogy fight this summer.

The two lightweights are tied at 1-1 after Poirier evened the score earlier this year when he stopped McGregor in the second round of their UFC 257 main event in Abu Dhabi. McGregor won the first fight with a first-round TKO at UFC 178 in 2014.

Both fighters have expressed interest in a trilogy bout next, but nothing has been formalized. However, at Thursday’s UFC 260 pre-fight news conference, UFC president Dana White confirmed plans of a Poirier-McGregor trilogy when asked about the potential matchup.

“Dustin – he wants the rematch and that’s smart. That’s what he should do,” White said. “He should take the rematch, take that fight. It’s a big fight for him. The kid has worked hard his whole life, his whole career, to be in a position like this – and that’s the fight you take.

“We’ve been in positions like this with others and they made the mistake of not taking that fight, and you know – biggest mistake of their lives.”

White said somewhere around July “makes sense” for the trilogy, but didn’t reveal any other details about the potential booking.

Many thought Poirier, ranked No. 1 in the UFC’s official lightweight rankings, would fight for the 155-pound title that recently was vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov. Instead, the UFC booked former Bellator champion Michael Chandler vs. Charles Oliveira for UFC 262 on May 15.