May 13, 2021, Houston, Texas, USA: HOUSTON - May 13, 2021: for SPORTS. UFC No. 9 Lightweight Beneil Dariush at an open-to-the-public press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz hosted at the George R. Brown Convention Center ahead of UFC 262 Olivera vs. Chandler on Saturday. Houston USA - ZUMAb177 20210513_zap_b177_026 Copyright: xTaidghxBarronx
Top-ranked lightweight shared his thoughts on who would win Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 3
McGregor and Poirier are set to settle their on-court rivalry at UFC 264 on the 10th of July. The score in the rivalry currently stands at 1-1.
At UFC 257, Poirier exacted revenge against McGregor after being beaten by the Irishman at UFC 178, way back in September 2014.
Poirier became the first man to knock McGregor out, in his professional MMA career. The pair agreed upon a trilogy fight in the immediate aftermath of UFC 257. And, a couple of months later the fight was made official.
They are set to fight it out, in front of a full house in Las Vegas.
Notable members from the MMA community have already begun giving their predictions as to how the fight would pan out. And, recently Beneil Dariush weighed in on the super-bout.
Speaking in an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Dariush claimed that he was leaning towards Poirier since he felt that ‘The Diamond’ had more ‘Octagon time’, whereas McGregor did not.
Dariush said:
“In my opinion Dustin [would beat McGregor]. I think the time in the Octagon makes a big difference. I think Conor needs to recognize, he hasn’t poured in the blood that is required. Time in the Octagon is different, I don’t care how much you train or whatever. Dustin has stepped in there over and over again. He has fought five rounds multiple times…He’s gonna be the bigger dog in the fight.”
The winner of the trilogy bout between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier is next in line for a title shot against Charles Oliveira.
The betting odds have already been released and Oliveira is the underdog in both the circumstances – against Poirier, as well as McGregor.
But Dariush feels that he is the one who deserves the title shot since he has the longest streak among the top 5 in the lightweight division.
Speaking in an interview with MMA Junkie, the Iranian that having the longest win streak in the top 3 puts him in pole position for a title shot.
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