Poirier-Chandler set for UFC 281 at MSG

Top lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler will face off in a three-round fight at UFC 281 in November, the UFC told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

The event is set to take place at Madison Square Garden.

Chandler also agreed to a new multi-fight deal with the UFC.

Poirier (28-7) and Chandler (23-7) are both looking to fight back toward a title shot after failing short in their bids for UFC gold against Charles Oliveira.

Oliveira was stripped of the belt after missing weight prior to a May bout with Justin Gaethje but won via rear-naked choke to set up a matchup with Islam Makhachev for the vacant title at UFC 280.

Poirier bounced back from his first title-fight loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019 with three straight wins, including two blockbuster fights against Conor McGregor, before falling to Oliveira last December.

Chandler snapped a two-fight losing streak (Oliveira and Gaethje) with a spectacular front-kick knockout of Tony Ferguson in May.

UFC 281 is set to be headlined by middleweight champion Israel Adesanya against Alex Pereira. Strawweight queen Carla Esparza will defend her title against former champion Zhang Weili in the co-main event.