McGregor’s future up in the air after knockout
In the week leading up to Conor McGregor’s UFC 257 main event against Dustin Poirier, the folks promoting the bout proclaimed that the king was back. McGregor is the most marketable fighter in UFC history, fighting for the first time in 53 weeks, and figured to use a win over Poirier to catapult him into a year of big fights and big paydays.
Except Poirier, of Lafayette, La., beat the Irish superstar McGregor to the punch, knocking him out in the second round early Sunday in Abu Dhabi and forcing McGregor and the UFC to recalibrate their 2021 plans.
The lightweight fighters, both 32, were each making a case for a title bout. McGregor looked strong and aggressive in the first round, but Poirier overwhelmed him in the second with leg kicks and a barrage of punches that crumpled McGregor.
During pre-fight hype, UFC President Dana White spoke as if a McGregor win were guaranteed, and mused openly about matching him with Khabib Nurmagomedov, who dominated McGregor in 2018 and who retired after a win in October. Arranging that rematch depended on luring Nurmagomedov out of retirement, which, in turn, depended on McGregor winning impressively.
McGregor said immediately after the fight that he’d like to compete more often in 2021, but a big-money rematch with Nurmagomedov seems less likely than ever, and an immediate shot at the vacant title also seems remote.
Poirier’s win should move him to the front of the line, and Michael Chandler, a former Bellator lightweight champion, made his case by winning his UFC debut in the co-main event via first-round knockout over contender Dan Hooker.
White acknowledged after the fight that a Nurmagomedov comeback was unlikely. He said they had spoken and that Nurmagomedov had told him: “Dana, be honest with yourself.”
But White did say a third fight between Poirier and McGregor, who had easily defeated Poirier back in 2014, was possible.
“There’s always a trilogy when you got 1-1,” White said.