(L-R) Opponents Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor pose face off for media during the UFC 257 press conference event inside Etihad Arena on UFC Fight Island on January 21, 2021 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Dustin Poirier seems open to fighting Conor McGregor again but the Irishman needs to find a different opponent to fight next
UFC 257 had barely gotten over but Conor McGregor was already talking about his next fight. The Irishman was just defeated, in spectacular fashion, by Dustin Poirier.
Poirier also destroyed McGregor’s leg and there seemed to be quite a gulf in class between the pair. However, McGregor wanted to run it back for a trilogy.
Poirier vs McGregor is tied at 1-1 and even The Diamond confirmed that the third fight was on and Dana White was also of the opinion that this should be for the Lightweight title.
Khabib Nurmagomedov currently is the champion. However, the Russian retired more than four months back after defeating Justin Gaethje.
White hasn’t taken the belt off Khabib but it should happen now. The Russian teased that if someone impressed him at UFC 257, he could return, but those plans were shelved despite Poirier’s impressive win.
Poirier has also been calling himself the “uncrowned champion” and might even take a back-seat if the UFC wants to give Michael Chandler a shot at the gold.
McGregor is still doing his bit of promoting a third fight against Poirier but the UFC needs to steer clear of that.
Poirier needs someone who deserves a shot at the Lightweight gold. While McGregor vs Poirier is the money fight and any fight featuring the Irishman sells, it would be a bit of a blow to the rest of the Lightweight division.
McGregor is coming off a huge loss and giving him another crack at Poirier, for the gold too, would be a bit of a questionable decision.
Of course, the UFC has handed title shots to a star after a loss but this one doesn’t really make sense. There are fighters who seem to be in better form than McGregor. One example is Charles Oliveira.
The Brazilian defeated Tony Ferguson and hasn’t lost in eight outings. Khabib was also impressed by him and Oliveira vs Poirier is the other money fight.
Chandler could also get a crack but Poirier isn’t keen on taking the newbie on at the moment.
That is an interesting question. Poirier shouldn’t be the option given that the Diamond should fight for the belt next and McGregor shouldn’t.
However, there are a few options for McGregor to clash. Chandler could be one but given how impressive he was on his debut, there could be something else in the works for him.
Another big clash could be seeing Gaethje face McGregor. The Highlight has hit out at McGregor several times and even explained how much he enjoyed Poirier getting the KO win.
Tony Ferguson could be quite a fight too and this one would see El Cucuy try to break a two-fight losing streak.
Any fight for McGregor is a money-maker for the UFC. Having one for the belt increases the PPV sales with McGregor fighting.
This isn’t to say he can’t fight for the belt in the future but he needs to go into a title clash with a win under his belt.
That is one reason why Gaethje also doesn’t believe he should get a title shot in his next fight, and hopefully, the UFC can set up this Gaethje vs McGregor fight next.
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