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)
Dustin Poirier changing his kick tactics against Conor McGregor at UFC 257 made all the difference
Anyone who watched Dustin Poirier beat Conor McGregor at UFC 257 could see that the Irishman was worn out by a flurry of kicks in the first 7 minutes.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier analysed this in detail when he was on ESPN MMA this week.
DC highlighted how ‘The Diamond’ kicked ‘The Notorious One’ on his thighs during their UFC 178 bout. However, Poirier changed his tactics for the 2021 encounter.
Cormier shows that now, Dustin Poirier was kicking McGregor on his calf, just below the knee. He explains that despite his defence, McGregor would have still felt the pain.
“Even though Conor won the fight, [he] never once checked the kick. Reached down for him every time, but Dustin was kicking behind the leg, high leg kick, behind the knee now, opposed to where he kicks today, which is that low calf kick.”
That was evident by the redness of McGregor’s legs early on in round 2. The former UFC double-champ succumbed to a flurry of punches in that round.
“Even though Conor is turning the knee out. Doesn’t matter. It still hits the outside of the calf. And now at this point, it does not take many of these kicks to really get you like ‘ah, I haven’t felt this before’ We talked about Conor not checking those kicks; he did.”
However, it was the kicks that had left his legs wobbly. McGregor tried to defend the kicks by turning his knee out, but the damage to his legs was done one kick at a time.
This is also the reason why he had an ugly leg injury at the end of the fight and walked out of the arena on crutches.
If the two do go on to complete a trilogy, maybe DC’s analysis of the fight can help the Irishman spring a surprise against Poirier.
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