UFC
Who is Conor McGregor’s rival in his return to UFC?
After the great performance of the American of French descent at UFC 299, the Irishman asked for another clash for his return. First, Michael Chandler.
No one knows exactly when Conor McGregor will return to the octagon, but that doesn’t stop the Irishman from adding potential opponents to his wish list. The most recent one was Dustin Poirier - to reignite an old rivalry which dates back almost a decade when he knocked Poirier out just 106 seconds into their UFC 178 bout in September 2014.
After El Diamante’s great performance at UFC 299, Notorious asked for a fourth fight. But first, he will have to face Michael Chandler.
Three bouts, two defeats
McGregor and Poirier have met three times in the cage, and the Irishman is aiming for a fourth. “It was good to see Poirier get the win, this makes me want the fourth fight. We will say that it is the real trilogy, the end. We have to put an end to it,” declared McGregor in an interview with TalkSport. El Diamante knocked out Benoît Saint Denis in the second round of a difficult fight in Miami, in which the Frenchman came out with all guns blazing. “It feels good to ride this ship, take a chance, fight a guy who’s outside of the Top 10. The reason why I started fighting was to be the best and be the best in the world, undisputed... But we’ve gotta get home and see what makes sense with my coaches, my wife and my management and just see what’s next. I don’t know”.
Prior to UFC 299, he had just lost to Justin Gaethje in another second-round KO for the BMF title.
First encounter
The first time Conor and Poirier faced each other was in September 2014. The Irishman was on the rise and had just beaten Marcus Brimage, Max Holloway and Diego Brandao, with the title in mind. In a short but intense fight, McGregor knew how to read and get ahead to the American and sent him to the canvas with a series of punches in the first round. But Poirier has since had his revenge - twice.
It was not until 2021 that they climbed into the cage together again. The Diamond arrived with his homework done, and a year of inactivity took its toll on the Irishman. He caught him in a cross of blows and sent Conor to the canvas. Seven months later, the tiebreaker arrived, which did not end in the best way for McGregor.
In the first round, The Notorious made the wrong move and fractured his left tibia, which put an end to the fight and would keep the Irishman away from the cage for a long time. Despite the injury, Poirier was dominating the match. For this reason, he does not consider this fight as the authentic third one.
Although he wants to meet again with the fighter who defeated him twice in a row and also wants to close the trilogy with Nate Díaz, he aimed for his return at the end of June and with Michael Chandler, with whom he had already agreed for almost a year. “My return will be against Michael Chandler, of course. I have assumed that he will be my first rival. We got confirmation a few days ago that it’s all systems go. I’m going to bust him up. I’m going to bust Mike up. If I say it, I do it. ... If I say it, it gets done. Put that on my stone. I don’t care about the rival. I’ve got this workload on me right now because I’ve got the promotion of the movie, St Patrick’s festivities... after that, it’s a closed door. I can map my plan. Gym, home, gym, home. And I hope we can get some clarity with the date, and I can push towards it. I’m sure we will get something in by the year’s end”.