Dana White expects ‘hungry’ ex-UFC champ Conor McGregor to get his opportunity for revenge against Dustin Poirier ‘this summer’

It took nearly six years for their first rematch to take place but it doesn't look like fight fans will have to wait even six months for the final instalment of the Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier trilogy fight.

The score between the two lightweight standouts currently stands at one win apiece after Poirier returned the favor at last month's UFC 257 to eek out a measure of revenge for the first-round TKO defeat he suffered at the hands of the notorious Irishman in 2014.

The win against McGregor - the first time his victim had been finished by strikes in his career - was speculated by most to be enough for Poirier to neatly transition into a world title fight in the UFC's 155-pound fold, but with the championship still in limbo owing to the will-he-won't-he retirement of titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov, it seems that both fighters, as well as the UFC, are aiming for one more red panty night.

Both McGregor and Poirier indicated in the aftermath of their scrap last month on "Fight Island" that they were more than amenable to the prospect of a third fight - with McGregor saying that he wanted it to be for "all the marbles", or the UFC's world title.

With that prospect ruled out for the time being, it seems as if McGregor will settle for a chance at erasing the disappointment of his second round knockout defeat at UFC 257 - something which White is more than open to.

"Well, when you have two guys that are in their positions - Dustin is the number one ranked guy in the world, you got Conor who is ranked number six - and they want the trilogy, you got to go with the trilogy," White said to the media in Las Vegas this week. "We’re probably going to try to put that fight together this summer."

White indicated that he envisages many of the division's top fighters being in action over the forthcoming months, a scenario he says will naturally allow the cream to rise to the top of a division in which several contenders are scrambling for footing.

When it comes to McGregor, it is clear White wants to see more.

"If you look at Conor, if you look at the way he fought, the leg kicks that he was eating, the stance he was in, he was completely overlooking Dustin Poirier," said White in separate comments to Get Up.

"I'm not taking anything away from Poirier, but when you pull in on a super yacht [in Abu Dhabi] and you’re living the life that Conor lives, you need to be hungry and you need to take every guy seriously.

"It doesn’t matter how you beat Dustin Poirier the first time, that’s not the same guy you are going to be facing and obviously Dustin Poirier is training like it’s the most important fight of his life.

"There were a lot of things lined up there for the upset. I guess the good part is, for the trilogy McGregor is hungrier that he’s ever been: he wants this fight back, he wants this fight badly. So it will be a fun third fight."