[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] predicts he will showcase his best version yet at UFC 264.
Although he’s had incredible performances over the likes of Jose Aldo to win the featherweight title with a 13-second knockout and a dominant finish of Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight title, McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) says Saturday’s main event trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier will be even better.
“I believe, as does everyone else, that my performance to win the second world title was the single greatest performance in UFC history,” McGregor said in an interview with Megan Olivi. “I’m going to top that on Saturday night.”
After McGregor made quick work of Poirier with a first-round TKO in 2014, Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) got his revenge almost five years later by knocking out McGregor at UFC 257 in January. But despite losing, McGregor likes what he saw in the rematch and sees himself scoring a violent finish of Poirier in the rubber match.
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“It’s all about me,” McGregor said. “He was electrocuted in the last fight, in the both rounds, so I’m just going to finish the job here. … He’s getting taken out on a stretcher. I’m ready for the 25 (minutes), but (I’ll finish him) early on.
“It’s going to be a devastating KO – a masterpiece. I said that before the last one and a lot of people were thinking of the short game, but I was thinking of the long game. It’s the masterpiece coming now. If I would have knocked Dustin out in the second fight, I was supposed to. I knocked him out in 60 seconds the first time. Now it’s the biggest thing ever – a masterpiece.”
If McGregor delivers Saturday, he sees himself challenging UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira before the end of the year in Las Vegas.
“We’ll steamroll this opponent on Saturday night and we’ll go for Allegiant Stadium,” McGregor said. “I flew in on the jet (Thursday), and I thought maybe that would be good around Christmas time. So that’s what I have my eye on.”
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