When Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon for a rematch against Dustin Poirier this Sunday in the main event of UFC 257, Paul Felder will be watching closely from cageside as he calls the action. That’s because “The Irish Dragon” (17-6) is confident this won’t be McGregor’s only appearance of the year, and he thinks that’s a win-win for everybody at 155 pounds. “I just think mentally, Conor seems to really want to be back in the Octagon and be busy,” No-8 ranked lightweight Felder told SCMP MMA. “He wanted to be busy in 2020 and the world fell apart and we had a pandemic, nobody had a plan for that. “If he can stay busy and stay in training camps and be focused on MMA and becoming a champion again, I think the lightweight division is in for a treat.” Former two-weight champ McGregor returned from a hiatus of more than two years to knock out Donald Cerrone (36-15) at welterweight last January in Las Vegas. It proved to be his only scrap in 2020 as Covid-19 ripped up his plans, but “The Notorious” McGregor has vowed he wants seven fights in the next 18 months. UFC: Chandler says McGregor inevitable ‘if I do my job’ vs Hooker “He seems so focused just in every interview, he’s giving a lot of time to the media, too,” UFC analyst and colour commentator Felder, 35, said. “He was in Portugal for weeks during this training camp, he’s working with a lot of sports scientists and doctors to really get a hold of that technology he needs to make sure his cardio is on point, that he’s not overtraining, that he’s doing things right. “I was watching an interview with his coach John Kavanagh – the first time these two [McGregor and Poirier] met, they were just [training] in a little dusty windy garage basically in Dublin, and now they’ve got their hands on whatever they need. It’s still the same athlete, it’s Conor, now he’s got all the technology and advancements to add to the skill sets that he’s already got.” Khabib Nurmagomedov has been on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi to meet UFC president Dana White and corner his cousin Umar Nurmagomedov (13-0) for the 24-year-old’s impressive debut win on Wednesday night. The lightweight champ declared he will see if either McGregor or Poirier impress him before making a final decision on whether to stick to his planned retirement, meaning the status of the title is still up in the air. “I don’t know, I have no side info,” Felder said. “Dana was the one that talked to him and that’s what he heard, he wants to see something special on Sunday morning and if he does maybe he’ll want to fight Conor. . @DustinPoirier vs @TheNotoriousMMA ! #UFC257 is LIVE Saturday on @espn + PPV #InAbuDhabi @visitabudhabi pic.twitter.com/RAkSUMUJNc — danawhite (@danawhite) January 21, 2021 “I just think Conor is gonna want to stay busy. If Conor can win and he doesn’t get a title shot let’s say, there’s rumours that Khabib is interested in Charles Oliveira, which I’ve always thought is gonna be a really interesting match-up as well. “But regardless, if it doesn’t happen right away, I think he [McGregor] wants to take out everybody. He wants to prove himself since he’s not been so active over the last few years. “So I think it’s all good, right? No matter who wins, as long as this lightweight division keeps moving … if Khabib walks away then we move on and somebody gets that title fight. If not and he stays, then we’ll see who he fights, but as long as things are moving and people are fighting and matchups are happening, it’s all good.”