Dustin Poirier reacts after his knockout victory over Conor McGregor of Ireland in a lightweight fight during the UFC 257 event inside Etihad Arena on UFC Fight Island on January 23, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Conor McGregor is all set to face off Dustin Poirier in a trilogy fight at UFC 264
Conor McGregor will be looking forward to burying the ghosts of his loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 to rest when he faces off against ‘The Diamond’ in a trilogy fight next weekend.
The pair will be headlining UFC 264 which is set to take place in front of a full house in Las Vegas.
The winner will be taking on newly-crowned lightweight champion Charles Oliveira for the lightweight title.
McGregor would be the one having his back against the wall, as a loss once again, especially via. knockout, might spell the doom to his lightweight title ambitions. There was a general opinion that he was finished, when he got knocked out last time by Poirier at UFC 257.
UFC Hall of Famer, Bas Rutten weighed in on what a loss would mean for McGregor. Rutten pointed out that another knockout loss would affect McGregor mentally, and all the money in he had in the bank would amount to nothing.
In an interview with Submission Radio, Rutten explained:
“It depends how (he loses). If he is going to get knocked out again, yeah that’s not going to be good for him. But not only that, that’s not going to be good for him mentally as well. He can tell me whatever – ‘Oh no, I’ve got $200 million in the bank”, or whatever, it doesn’t matter, you’re a fighter. At the end of your career, you rather would have wrapped up your career with a bunch of wins, than with a loss. This is simply how we are, because we always want to perform at the highest level. So, I think that is going to give him a lot of pressure.”
McGregor has plans of moving to the welterweight division, if he manages to get past Poirier at UFC 264. The Irishman has already fought thrice at 170lbs, having won twice and lost once.
Since it is his natural weight, a few perks come along with it. And Bas Rutten explained how a move to the welterweight division would probably benefit McGregor.
“I think he will do good (at 170lbs)…If you fight at your natural weight, I have always said you fight at your best…You try to cut so much because then you think it makes you stronger, which it doesn’t. You take water out of your system – water that you need the most, in the body and you just decide to dehydrate yourself…So, fight in your own weight class, because it simply makes you stronger…In the later rounds, he’s (McGregor’s) getting tired…So I think that also will disappear once you fight closer to your weight class.”
McGregor’s last fight in the welterweight division was at UFC 246 last year. He took on Donald Cerrone, and beat him in just under a minute into the first round.
More UFC news
Follow our dedicated UFC page for instant UFC news and updates
