UFC's Vice President & General Manager for Europe James Elliot was recently talking with Dublin radio station Newstalk FM and he gave a time-frame for the often rumoured stadium show in Ireland.
Since McGregor broke onto the scene and blew up in the UFC there has been talk of a potential show in Croke Park and the Aviva. But now it looks like it will happen before the end of 2017.
"Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium are two places that we've looked at, we've made no secret about that," Elliot told Dublin's Newstalk.com, as transcribed by FOX Sports.
"Conor (McGregor) has certainly made no secret about the fact that he wants to fight in Dublin. It's something that's on the agenda. The numbers are getting closer in terms of how we could make it work, there's still a lot of moving parts ... I feel we're not that far away, certainly within the 18-month time frame, that's something that we're focused on," he said.
The UFC have held three show in total with each selling out, included last October's card which was decimated by injury. This has apparently given the UFC the confidence to move forward with a larger stadium show.
"We've sold out the two shows in Dublin in record time, even when the card was decimated through injuries in October -- the fans still turned out and supported us really well," Elliot said. "That did not go unnoticed by everybody in Vegas. We certainly understand how big the fanbase is in Ireland, and how big it could be."
"It would be a fantastic brand play for us to have a big numbered event in Europe." Elliot said. "It's something that we're definitely focused on. It's very easy for us to see what it could do for our business -- we just need to convince the right people that it's the right thing to do at the right time."