Dustin Poirier Optimistic Conor McGregor UFC Fight Will Happen in 2020 or 2021

Dustin Poirier is optimistic he will fight Conor McGregor either before the end of this year or in 2021.

Appearing on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show podcast (via ESPN), Poirier said he thinks "the Conor fight comes together."

"I believe I would have a contract right now if Conor said he would fight in 2021," Poirier added. "He wants to fight in 2020."

McGregor tweeted Oct. 8 that he accepted the UFC's offer to fight Poirier but stipulated he wanted the bout to happen this year:   

Per Helwani, McGregor was "awaiting a reply from UFC."

Even though McGregor received an offer, Poirier told Helwani he hasn't "formally been offered anything" from the UFC.

"I think the Conor side of the deal might be the tougher part to get done, and once that's done, they might come to me," Poirier said. "I don't know. They know I want to fight. They know I want to fight this year, whether it's Conor, whether it's Tony [Ferguson]."

Poirier most recently fought at UFC on ESPN in June when he defeated Dan Hooker by unanimous decision.

McGregor hasn't stepped into the Octagon since January. He scored a TKO win in 40 seconds over Donald Cerrone. That was his first UFC bout since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.