Conor McGregor wants to beat Poirier and takes a drastic measure

Fighting out of Nashville, Chandler is coming off a first-round knockout of former UFC champion Benson Henderson in the final fight of his Bellator contract in August.

Former Bellator MMA lightweight champion Michael Chandler will finally make his UFC debut against Dan Hooker at UFC 257 on January 23, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.

Chandler (21-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) admits Hooker (20-9 MMA, 10-5 UFC) wasn't an opponent he had thought of, as he was previously linked to bigger names in the division. Case in point, recently Khabib's manager Ali Abdelaziz spoke with TMZ, and of course, he was asked about the possibility of the star ending his retirement.

Subscribe and get our daily emails and follow us on social media. Obviously, aside from Khabib (Nurmagomedov), because he's semi-retired right now, we're not sure what he's doing yet. "I'm going to let them do what they do, and I'll be a fan".

The UFC 257 event will take place on "Fight Island", in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

However if even a $100 million payday wouldn't persuade Nurmagomedov to rematch with McGregor, then it seems nearly certain we'll never see a second grudge match - even if Khabib does decide to take up White's offer to return to the UFC this year.

"Truthfully, he may be one of the saltiest, nastiest, toughest challenges both physically and with his attributes inside of the octagon than any of (the top-ranked fighters)", Chandler said.

I don't think would persuade Khabib if Khabib did want to fight. I think I matchup better with Ferguson than Hooker.

The undefeated former UFC lightweight champion made an emotional retirement speech after his October win over Justin Gaethje, confirming he wouldn't fight on after his father and coach, Abdulmanap, had died in the summer.