[ad_1]
This weekend marks the UFC’s third show of 2021 and depending on how things go, it could be the biggest of the year. What program are we talking about? About UFC 257, of course.
In the main event of the card, Conor McGregor returns, who will have a rematch with Dustin Poirier. And in the co-main event, Michael Chandler will make his UFC debut with a fight against Dan Hooker. Overall this is a fantastic card, plus a small fanbase will be attending the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where to watch the UFC fight online: Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
Pre-match designs
Both participants in the main event of UFC 257 won their last fights, thus closing the loss to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor finished Cerrone in 40 seconds at UFC 246 in January 2020. McGregor’s previous appearance in the Octagon took place in October 2018, where he was defeated by a submission from Dagestani in the fourth round.
Poirier was strangled by Khabib in September 2019 at UFC 242, one round before McGregor. In June, Dustin again defeated Dan Hooker by unanimous decision in a spectacular 5-round stunt.
Nurmagomedov made it clear last week that he is ready to return to the sport to defend his UFC lightweight title if he sees something interesting in the McGregor vs. Poirier 2 and Chandler vs. Hooker fights. For objective reasons, in case of victory, McGregor will have a much better chance of revenge with Nurmagomedov than with Poirier, if he manages to get revenge on Sunday.
Naturally, given that this is McGregor’s first UFC appearance in a year, this fight is a very important event. However, it is much more important than his last fight, where Conor faced Donald Cerrone in less than a minute. Not only was that fight in the welterweight division, not a natural weight for McGregor, but Cerrone too, to be fair, was long past his peak and looked like easy prey to Notorious.
Dustin Poirier
Poirier is one of the most dangerous fighters in the UFC lightweight division. Sure, McGregor easily knocked him out in the first round when they fought in 2014 at UFC 178 as a featherweight, but a lot has changed since then. So “Diamond” was a good fighter. He had excellent grappling skills and knockout power, but overall his punching technique was underdeveloped. Most importantly, McGregor seems to have broken his will even before the fight.
For Poirier, that fight was his last at featherweight. Since rising to the lightweight division, he has won 10 of 13 fights, losing only to Michael Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Along the way, “Brilliant” has developed a rather terrifying tactic based on how to cut the enemy with heavy blows. Poirier’s boxing skills are developing by leaps and bounds from a technical point of view, but what really stands out is his killer instinct.
As a general rule of thumb, if Poirier hits an opponent, he will most likely finish them off. Since switching to lightweight, he has stopped fighters like Anthony Pettis, Justin Gage and Eddie Alvarez by relentlessly chasing them and keeping them from breathing in peace.
Conor McGregor
The biggest star in UFC history, McGregor has risen to the top not only with his Octagon skills, but also with his charisma and trash. Coming to the UFC in 2013, McGregor cleaned out the entire featherweight division, winning six fights in a row, including a knockout over Porier, en route to winning the UFC title in a memorable fight against Jose Aldo.
Of course, it can be argued that the parterre has always been the Irishman’s weakness. But the truth is, for all their time in the UFC, only Nurmagomedov and Nate Diaz were able to prove this.
And what is remarkable, no one was able to interrupt the Irishman on the rack. Not only does McGregor have incredible punching power, especially his left hand, but he’s also a creative drummer, as we saw in his fight against Cerrone, where Conor used shoulder punches and high kicks. Besides that, few UFC fighters had the time and precision of the Irishman. And it was this ability, combined with power, that led to his victories over Aldo, Poirier, and Eddie Alvarez.
Forecast for the fight
For this reason, “Notorious” seems like one of the couple’s favorites. Yes, since 2016 he has performed little in the cage and has had many strange distractions, but simply put, stylistically, he is a poor opponent for Poirier.
Despite all Poirier’s improvements, his pressure bet won’t work unless McGregor gives him a target to hit. And as we’ve seen before, no one has McGregor’s counterattack prowess.
It has been a long time since the first fight and each of the fighters has changed, but we believe that the result of the rematch can be the same as in 2014.
McGregor wins by knockout in 1st round
Sport.ua will host an online text broadcast of the fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.
If you find an error, select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
[ad_2]
