McGregor aiming to get again on monitor with Poirier trilogy battle

There could also be no belt on the road when former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor meets Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Las Vegas on Saturday, however the Irishman can be preventing to make his identify related once more after a poor run of leads to the octagon.
McGregor has solely fought 3 times in MMA since defeating Eddie Alvarez in 2016 to win the light-weight title, which he subsequently misplaced to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
A extra mature McGregor bounced again at welterweight in January 2020 to defeat Donald Cerrone, however a rematch with Poirier, whom he beat throughout his rise in 2014, in Abu Dhabi in January of this yr led to a second-round knockout loss.
The defeat was a critical setback as McGregor had hoped that victory would arrange a light-weight title shot and a profitable boxing match in opposition to Manny Pacquiao. Instead, he slipped down the rankings and Pacquiao’s curiosity in a bout cooled.
The pleasant ambiance earlier than the final Poirier battle, by which McGregor complimented his opponent and supplied to help his charity basis, has since been forgotten. At Thursday’s press convention, the boorish, brash McGregor was again.
“I’m going to go through his head, put holes in him and take it off his shoulders. That’s the goal here, he’s done. This is it for him. This is the end of the road,” McGregor bellowed.
“So it’s on now. Saturday night, he’s getting walked around that octagon like a dog and put to sleep.”
McGregor’s use of a boxing stance of their Abu Dhabi bout gave Poirier the opening he wanted, permitting him to assault McGregor’s lead leg with vicious kicks to restrict his mobility earlier than stalking him down and knocking him out.
McGregor and his entourage rolled into Las Vegas figuring out that the 32-year-old’s profession is coming to a fork within the highway.
Win, and he’s again within the UFC title image. Lose, and his greatest choices financially are a trilogy non-title battle with Nate Diaz and maybe a boxing match in opposition to a social media influencer, fairly than the likes of Floyd Mayweather.
Poirier, who took the profitable rematch with McGregor fairly than push for a title shot of his personal, refused to get drawn into McGregor’s disagreement.
“It’s a fight. It’s up to you to get prepared. I beat him. What’s his excuse going to be on Saturday, is what I want to know,” he informed reporters.