Home » UFC » Exclusive: Miesha Tate backs “improved” Dustin Poirier to knock Conor McGregor out

Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 2 is one of the biggest UFC fights in 2021

Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 2 is going to be an excellent fight and a lot could be riding on it.

The pair will meet at UFC 257 and the winner of this fight could end up getting a Lightweight title shot.

Dustin Poirier got the win over Dan Hooker
Dustin Poirier celebrates after his victory over Dan Hooker of New Zealand in their lightweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on June 27, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

McGregor beat Poirier the last time they met. However, former UFC Champion Miesha Tate believes it could go the other way around this time.

Tate was on the Schmozone podcast and claimed that it was Poirier that had been improving a lot:

“Love that fight. I am very excited for the fight. Poirier is definitely the more improved of the two that I can tell cause Conor doesn’t fight very often.”

Poirier is coming off a great win over Dan Hooker. However, Conor had defeated Donald Cerrone in around 40 seconds in his previous fight.

Poirier on another level

While many have predicted McGregor to get the win over Poirier, Tate brought up some other thoughts.

“I think Dustin Poirier is on a different level right now and I think he has come into his man body since he fought Conor the first time and also his defence is so much better.”

She went on to say that Poirier has a better defence now and also moves better in the Octagon. Tate brought up that Poirier is willing to get into “firefights” and that could be a risky strategy against McGregor.

Conor McGregor has defeated Dustin Poirier in the past
Referee John McCarthy (L) makes sure Conor McGregor goes back to his corner at the end of a round of his welterweight rematch against Nate Diaz at the UFC 202 event at T-Mobile Arena on August 20, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. McGregor won by majority decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

However, she also brought up that Conor has been tagged in the past, especially in his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov:

“Conor does have the talent for finding the openings and finding the time. I think he hits hard but I have seen Conor get rocked too.

“I saw Conor get a little stunned, a little hurt, I don’t know if other people picked up on it but with Khabib, it was like a jab.”

“Conor is vulnerable too and I can see that fight ending in a knockout, one way or another.”

When pressed on who could get the knockout, she believed that it would be Poirier getting the big KO win:

“Wouldn’t that be crazy if Conor got knocked out? What would that do for his bigger than life presence.”

Tate claimed that getting choked out by Khabib was one thing but that KO from Poirier could be happening:

“I can see it happening in this fight too.”

This was an exclusive interview from The Schmozone Podcast. For more exclusive interviews and content please follow the link

More UFC news

Follow our dedicated UFC page for instant UFC news and updates