Conor McGregor’s UFC 178 win over Dustin Poirier was a springboard to bigger things and remains one of his most important in-cage moments.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s fights remain to this day the biggest events in MMA.
McGregor will make his return at UFC 257, where he will take on Dustin Poirier in the main event of the Jan. 23 card.
It’s a rematch of the fight which helped put McGregor on the map as a serious contender in the UFC featherweight division, and not just a guy with a big mouth. McGregor’s first-round finish of Poirier at UFC 178 launched him on a path which included both 145- and 155-pound titles, as he become the UFC’s first simultaneous two-weight-class champion.
The victory in the first Poirier fight was important enough that we’ve included it in our list of the biggest in-cage highlights to date for “The Notorious.”
Will he add another one at UFC 257, or will Poirier settle the score? We won’t know the answer to that until Jan. 23. But until then, you can check out McGregor’s biggest moments in the video above.
MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel discusses the state of the UFC lightweight division and what should happen if Khabib Nurmagomedov is retired.
MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel discusses the state of the UFC lightweight division and what should happen if Khabib Nurmagomedov is retired.
If Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement decision sticks, Dustin Poirier says the lightweight division needs to crown a new champion at UFC 257.
If [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag]’s retirement decision sticks, [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] says the lightweight division needs to crown a new champion. It just so happens he’s about to compete in the bout that could help make that happen.
Poirier (26-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) is set to rematch former lightweight and featherweight titleholder [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the UFC 257 main event Jan. 23. It’s a marquee fight for the 155-pound weight class, but the stakes could be raised even higher.
Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) announced he was done with MMA competition following his title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October. UFC president Dana White has since said he’s confident “The Eagle” will come back for at least one more, but Nurmagomedov has refuted that for the time being and insisted he has no desire to come back.
“I think if Khabib’s retired and not coming back, then I’m next in line for the title shot, and this could be the title fight,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “This could be for the undisputed belt. I think that’d make sense. Dana’s saying one thing, Khabib’s saying another. Who knows what the truth is? Time will tell.”
Poirier said he’s not rushing for the UFC to put a title designation on his fight. There are still two months until his bout with McGregor, and a lot can happen during that window. Moreover, Nurmagomedov is just a month removed from beating Gaethje, which isn’t all that much time to mull over how he truly feels.
Poirier understands the choice not to take the belt off Nurmagomedov immediately since emotions were running high for him after a difficult year in both his career and personal life. He doesn’t appear to be expressing dramatically different thoughts as time goes on, though, and Poirier hopes a call is made by his fight.
“The division has to move on,” Poirier said. “The only thing that makes me think the guy is serious is, first of all, he doesn’t seem like a bull(expletive)er, and if he said he’s done right after the fight and his father just passed away, it’s an emotional moment. You just got another title defense, you get to go back home to your family. You might say those things right after. But a month later, you’re still singing the same tune? Maybe the guy’s mind is somewhere else. Maybe he is moving forward. Maybe, like he said, he’s accomplished everything he set out to do. I don’t know. But if he is done, somebody has to fight for that belt.”
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If for whatever reason Nurmagomedov’s future doesn’t have a clear answer by the time UFC 257 rolls around, Poirier said he’ll be content going into a non-title fight. He brushed off the idea of an interim title, which is something he’s already done and won.
“I want the undisputed belt,” Poirier said. “I think in this situation, with him just defending, I don’t think an interim belt makes a whole lot of sense.”
Whether it’s added to his fight at UFC 257 or not, Poirier said he knows UFC gold isn’t far off for him. If beating McGregor doesn’t put a belt around his waist, Poirier said he’s certain the next fight would give him that opportunity for real.
“If the title’s not on the line for this fight with Conor, it’s going to be the next fight,” Poirier said. “After I beat Conor, my next fight will be for the belt if this isn’t it.”
Tempers flared when they faced off for the first time at UFC 178 media day.
This time around, the build-up to [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] and [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s fight could be drastically different.
The pair are set to rematch more than six years later in the UFC 257 headliner on Jan. 23. In their first meeting at UFC 178, McGregor knocked out Poirier in the first round of their featherweight bout.
There was plenty of animosity between Poirier and McGregor back then, with the two constantly exchanging words and getting heated with each other. In an interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn on Monday, Poirier even admitted that he got too emotional and wanted to “hurt” McGregor, which ultimately cost him.
McGregor is notorious for getting into his opponents’ heads and was able to get a rise out of Poirier in their first faceoff at UFC 178 media day, which you can see below (via Instagram):
It seems Poirier and McGregor will enter their rematch with much cooler heads. McGregor even promised to donate half-a-million dollars to Poirier’s Good Fight Foundation as the two appear to have developed a greater level of respect for each other.
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
Conor McGregor won the first time he fought Dustin Porier, so it should come as no surprise that he’s favored to win again.
[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] won the first time he fought [autotag]Dustin Porier[/autotag], so it should come as no surprise that he’s favored to win again.
On Monday, the UFC made the rematch official as Poirier vs. McGregor 2 is set to headline UFC 257 on Jan. 23. The announcement came after McGregor signed his bout agreement last week; Poirier had already signed his one week earlier.
McGregor and Poirier first fought as featherweights in Septemeber 2014 at UFC 178, with McGregor winning by first-round TKO. Their UFC 257 rematch is set to be contested at lightweight.
McGregor, a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, is a -228 favorite, according to the oddsmakers at BetMGM, with Poirier coming back at +185. At these odds, a bet of $228 on McGregor would be needed to profit $100. Meanwhile, a $100 bet on Poirier would yield a $185 profit.
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By the time he steps into the octagon, McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) will have been off for 371 days. He last fought at UFC 246, defeating Donald Cerrone in a welterweight fight by 40-second TKO. Poirier’s last fight was June 27, when he defeated Dan Hooker by grueling unanimous decision in a “Fight of the Year” candidate.
Since their first meeting at UFC 178, Poirier Poirier (26-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) has made 13 UFC appearances to McGregor’s eight. The lack of activity on McGregor’s part comes into clearer view in recent years, with Poirier making eight octagon appearances since 2017 while McGregor’s only fought three times, which includes a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
Poirier’s evolution through the years led to an eventual interim 155-pound championship win over Max Holloway in April 2019.
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Dustin Poirier was emotionally charged when he lost to Conor Mcgregor six years ago, but things have changed since then.
[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] was an emotionally charged going into his first encounter with [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] more than six years ago, which led to a disastrous result, but he expects things will be different for the rematch at UFC 257.
Poirier hasn’t minced words about it in the years since was knocked out by McGregor just 96 seconds into their featherweight bout at UFC 178. He let the brash Irishman get into his head, and because of that he was compromised before stepping into the octagon. That was evident during their pre-fight media day faceoff, as the two sides had to be separated and Poirier told McGregor he “ain’t (expletive), boy.”
McGregor’s quick finish of Poirier validated him in a big way and set his career trajectory in an unprecedented upward direction. Poirier was the first ranked opponent he’d beaten in the UFC, and from there “The Notorious” went on to win titles in two divisions and become the face of the sport.
Reality is much different years later, though. Poirier has moved up a division and firmly entrenched himself as one of the top lightweights in UFC history, claiming an interim title and recording a number of signature wins on his resume. He’s no longer the hot head he was in his mid-20s, but rather a 31-year-old husband and father who has learned a lot about himself as both a fighter and person.
Those experiences have Poirier entering the rematch with McGregor on Jan. 23 with a healthy mindset.
“He was obviously a great fighter in finishing a bunch of guys before me in his UFC career, but at this point we’re both so much more established and have so much more experience, just more mature fighters, and I think you get a completely different fight here,” Poirier told MMA Junkie on Monday. “I was emotional in the first one. I wanted to hurt the guy. This time I just want to outsmart him, just want to beat him. This is business. This isn’t any ill will towards the guy.
“When I was younger, I used to fight with a lot of emotion. This isn’t the same thing for me. This isn’t about getting even for me. This isn’t like a revenge type of thing for me. This is about moving my career forward, about putting my family in a better spot. It’s not trying to get back a guy who got me. This is just business.”
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McGregor is known for his ability to agitate opponents with his words, and Poirier succumbed to it the first time around. It would be easy to hold on to that error over the years, especially as McGregor has made his mark in the sport, but Poirier said he learned to let go a long time ago.
As their positions in the 155-pound rankings have remained close, a Poirier vs. McGregor rematch never seemed like an impossibility. Poirier has been asked about it a number of times over the years, but has never stepped out of his line to campaign for the fight or show signs of desperation.
Given McGregor’s star power in the sport, he largely has the ability to pick and choose his shots in terms of matchmaking. Poirier admits he’s not entirely certain what’s behind McGregor’s motivation to pick him, but see it as a very logical booking.
“I knew it was a possibility, but I never chased it,” Poirier said. “It makes sense, I think, at this point. The rankings, the availability of fighters. We’re both coming off wins. I didn’t chase it. I didn’t think about it all the time, but I knew it was a possibility.”
The rematch with McGregor will mark the third time Poirier has encountered an opponent for a second time. His previous two rematch situations went well, with him beating Max Holloway and Eddie Alvarez the second time they fought. The difference with those bouts, however, is that Poirier didn’t suffer a loss to either man in the original meeting.
Poirier is not all that worried about the dynamics, though. He knows the progress he’s made from a mental and physical standpoint, so it’s hard to relate to anything from 2014.
“It’s kind of the same, honestly,” Poirier said. “Going into the Max fight I knew he was a different fighter. I knew I was a different fighter. I couldn’t really draw any momentum from the first fight, and kind of same here with this. This is a completely different fight. We’re both completely different fighters, and I’m not really looking back at that first fight.”
Despite losing the first one, Poirier appears to have some very real advantages for the rematch. One of those simply is activity in MMA. McGregor has fought just twice in the past four years, whereas Poirier has fought eight times during that same stretch.
The scale tips in Poirier’s favor when it comes to recent, high-level experience, too. However, he said McGregor is not to be overlooked in any way. Inactive or not, Poirier knows there’s a lot he has to be cautious of.
“We have to get in there and find out how it aligns,” Poirier said. “Watching footage and stuff like that, I can tell you the guy has one of the best counter-twos in the game. No doubt about it. His timing, his balance, his understanding of distance when guys are being too heavy on their front foot and throwing power shots. He’s a great counter puncher. He really is. I give him credit for that.
“I’m sure he’s always evolving and working to get better. I think people, because he’s been submitted, he’s such a big puncher, people underestimate his ground game. I think his jiu-jitsu and his grappling is better than people give him credit for. I really do. I’m not underestimating this guy in any aspect of mixed martial arts. I’m expecting him to come out as a mixed martial artist, not a boxer, not a one-puncher. He’s coming to fight, and so am I.”
When anyone signs on to fight McGregor, money and the thought of a “Red Panty Night” become part of the narrative. Poirier was in talks to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 254 in October, but the fight failed to materialize because terms could not be reached with the UFC.
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Poirier did not give exact figures of what the financial side of the McGregor fights looks like for him, but he confirmed he did receive a new UFC contract with plenty of incentives, and emphasized he wouldn’t be fighting McGregor at UFC 257 if he didn’t feel satisfied.
One of the stakes that remains unknown, though, is what the fight means for the lightweight division. Reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement following a submission win over Justin Gaethje in October, but there’s since been speculation about whether that will stick. UFC president Dana White has expressed frequent confidence he’ll get Nurmagomedov back for one fight, and said the title won’t be taken off him.
Poirier is curious as to what will happen, but if Nurmagomedov sticks to his word, he said his matchup with McGregor should be designated as an undisputed title bout.
“I think if Khabib’s retired and not coming back, then I’m next in line for the title shot, and this could be the title fight,” Poirier said. “This could be for the undisputed belt. I think that’d make sense. Dana’s saying one thing, Khabib’s saying another. Who knows what the truth is? Time will tell.”
Whether the title is on the line or not, Poirier said he’s 100 percent focused on winning at UFC 257. It’s the only thing on his mind, and he hopes McGregor takes the same approach, despite his team recently coming out and discussing a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao.
“He might be (overlooking me), and that would be a huge mistake,” Poirier said. “That would be a huge mistake. I might be fighting Pacquiao.”
Conor McGregor’s rematch against Dustin Poirier will happen under different circumstances from when they first fought in 2014.
For nearly the past four years, keeping an active fight schedule hasn’t been in the cards for [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].
McGregor, 32, reached the pinnacle of his MMA career Nov. 12, 2016 when, at UFC 205, the then-featherweight champion knocked out Eddie Alvarez to claim the lightweight title and become the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division champ. In the time since, McGregor has fought three times – including a boxing match he lost to Floyd Mayweather – while being occupied with a litany of arrests and legal troubles, as well as running his Proper No. Twelve whiskey business.
Prior to his January win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, McGregor spoke of wanting to have a 2020 “season,” complete with four fights this calendar year. Things didn’t pan out because of the coronavirus pandemic, but on Thursday, McGregor signed a bout agreement to make his return against [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] in the UFC 257 main event Jan. 23.
By the time he steps into the octagon, McGregor will have been off for 371 days. Before that, it was 469 days between losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 and his 40-second finish of Cerrone.
All this is to say questions about how McGregor will perform after another long layoff would be understandable.
“Conor is always dangerous,” UFC president Dana White said during an appearance on “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Radio. “From what I’ve seen of him on social media, it looks like he’s in great shape, looks like he’s training hard. Even before this, he was training to do some type of charity bike event. So the guy’s in great shape.”
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McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) had his way with an aging Cerrone, but how will McGregor fare in a rematch with Poirier (26-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) in his prime? The two first fought in September 2014 as featherweights, with McGregor winning by first-round knockout at UFC 178. Certainly, results suggest that both are better fighters now, but who has improved more? Poirier, 31, clearly has more experience.
Since UFC 178, Poirier has made 13 UFC appearances to McGregor’s eight. The lack of activity comes into clearer view in recent years, with Poirier making eight octagon appearances since 2017 while McGregor’s sat mostly on the sidelines. Poirier’s evolution led to an eventual interim 155-pound championship win over Max Holloway in April 2019.
White suggested Poirier is a more dangerous opponent for McGregor this time around.
“Poirier’s wanted this fight for so long now, the rematch with Conor,” White said. “He’s a much better fighter than he was the first time they fought.”
Good enough to win and get some revenge? UFC 257 will provide the answer.
UFC president Dana White is prepared to go all out for Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.
If UFC president Dana White has his way, the promotion will go all out for [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s return – although you might just consider it back to normal.
On Thursday, McGregor signed a bout agreement making his expected rematch with Dustin Poirer official for UFC 257 on Jan. 23. While the event does not have an officially designated location, White would like it to take place on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi with all the works.
“I’m looking to make it International Fight Week,” White told Barstool Sports. “The new Ethiad Arena will be open, and that thing was designed with us in mind. Concerts, pool parties, all kinds of cool stuff. And, yes, I hope to bring fans back. … That’s what I’m shooting for.”
Since its May return following a brief shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC has operated events without fans. It started with UFC 249 and a string of three events in eight days in at VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. Since then, the UFC has run near-weekly events at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, as well as Flash Forum on “Fight Island,” which has hosted two separate five-week stints.
Ideally, White said he’d like a “Fight Island” version of International Fight Week to include multiple shows.
“What I would love to do is we’ll get there, and do it Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday fights,” White said. “… We go out there and kill it.”
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As of now, the UFC has a Fight Night headlined by Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 16 to go with UFC 257 the following Saturday.
White’s desire comes at a time when COVID-19 is still a worldwide problem, with numbers surging to new highs in the U.S. in recent weeks. The U.S. is up to nearly 12 million total cases and 252,000 deaths. Significant progress has been made on a vaccine, but logistical challenges remain for wide distribution.
From the start of the pandemic, White was eager to push through with events. His desire to go big for McGregor’s return should come as no surprise. He believes the UFC is capable of pulling it off safely.
“It would be good to have fans. And the thing is, from ‘Fight Island’ we can get fans all over the world there. It’s an easy destination to get to, a fun destination to go to, and we can just (expletive) blow the doors off this thing,” White said.
He continued, “I’m ready for some fights with fans. I’m ready to go to a live concert. I’m ready to have some parties. I’m gonna go to all this shit. I want to mingle with the fans again. I want the fans back. We’ve figured this whole thing out up to now. We’ll figure out how to do do this safely and pull this thing off in Abu Dhabi.”
A lightweight banger between Ottman Azaitar and Matt Frevola is on tap for UFC 257.
A lightweight banger is on tap for UFC 257 as [autotag]Ottman Azaitar[/autotag] will face [autotag]Matt Frevola[/autotag] on Jan. 23.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie on Thursday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Azaitar (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) stormed onto the UFC scene last September, scoring back-to-back first-round knockouts of Teemu Packalen and Khama Worthy. The undefeated Moroccan has finished all but one of his professional fights.
Frevola (8-1-1 MMA, 2-1-1 UFC), a “Dana White’s Contender Series” graduate, is coming off back-to-back decision wins over Jalin Turner and most recently Luis Pena at UFC on ESPN+ 19 last October. His lone loss came to Marco Polo Reyes in his promotional debut.
With the addition, the latest UFC 257 lineup includes:
