Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler will do battle in a mouth-watering clash at UFC 281 tonight.
The main event in New York will offer a stacked card which includes Israel Adesanya’s title defence against Alex Pereira and Carla Esparza’s putting her crown on the line against Zhang Weili.
But it could well be Poirier vs Chandler that steals the show as the lightweight superstars face off.
Following his incredible back-to-back wins over Conor McGregor, Poirier lost on his shot at the UFC lightweight belt as he was submitted by Charles Oliveira.
But ‘The Diamond’ has enjoyed a stellar career and will be looking to secure another title bout as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Chandler, who is a three-time Bellator Lightweight Champion, knocked out Tony Ferguson at UFC 274 in May.
Before that, ‘Iron’ was beaten by Justin Gaethje at UFC 268 in what was the Fight of the Year for 2021 and the 36-year-old is also eager to prove himself worthy of a title clash.
Poirier vs Chandler: Date and how to follow
UFC 281 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 12 and is being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The prelim action will start at 11pm for UK fans with the main card getting underway from 1am on Sunday morning. Poirier vs Chandler can then be expected at around 3am.
The action will be shown on BT Sport 2 with their coverage starting at 1am. Full details on how to follow the action will follow soon.
talkSPORT will also have all the build-up and reaction to the event throughout fight week.
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Poirier vs Chandler: Fight card
Subject to change
Main card
- MAIN EVENT: Israel Adesanya (c) vs Alex Pereira - for UFC Middleweight Championship
- Carla Esparza (c) vs Zhang Weili - for UFC Women's Strawweight Championship
- Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler
- Frankie Edgar vs Chris Gutierrez
- Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles
Preliminary card
- Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano
- Dominick Reyes vs Ryan Spann
- Molly McCann vs Erin Blanchfield
- Andre Petroski vs Wellington Turman
Early preliminary card
- Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar
- Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Silvana Gomez Juarez
- Michael Trizano vs Choi Seung-woo
- Julio Arce vs Montel Jackson
- Carlos Ulberg vs Nicolae Negumereanu
Poirier vs Chandler: What has been said?
Poirier: “He’s a former world champion. He’s one of the best 155-pounders in the world, so he’s a very, very tough opponent.
“If it’s Fight of the Year, that means it’s back-and-forth. I’d like it to be clean, one-sided if I could paint the perfect picture.
“But I don’t shy away from those fire fights. I’m going to try my best to stay calm under fire and technical, but if he competes to the best of his ability, and I do the same, it could be Fight of the Century.
“I feel like this is a huge fight in my career.
“I’ve never lost two fights in a row in my whole career. Since amateur, I’ve never lost two fights in a row.
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“I want to prove to myself that I learn from mistakes – I get back to the grind, pick myself back up. And not only to myself, I want to prove to my family, the fans, my daughter that you can fall down and get back up and succeed.
“So this fight, for me personally, it’s very important for me to get a victory over another former world champion and add his name to my resume and legacy.”
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