Two fights aren’t enough for Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, as they lock horns for the third time on July 10 in Las Vegas. The winner of this fight will not only get the bragging rights over the other but likely a ticket to a championship fight against current lightweight king Charles Oliveira. McGregor won in the initial meeting with Poirier, who won in the rematch. Who gets to win the rubber match? Check out our preview of this fight below.
Poirier will look to become the first fighter to beat McGregor twice. He just defeated the outspoken Irishman last January via knockout in the second round of their rematch. The American lost in the first right via knockout in the first round. McGregor is always a dangerous opponent because of his stinging power, but Poirier has shown he has the ability to control the fight in this matchup in the aforementioned January win, wherein he landed almost 20 more significant strikes and even scored a takedown. Speaking of which, Poirier is comparably the better fighter of the two when it comes to taking the fight to the mat. He is averaging 1.32 submissions per 15 minutes and 1.75 takedowns per 15 minutes. He has six wins through submissions. McGregor’s defense on the ground is suspect on paper, especially when considering the fact that four of his five losses in his MMA career so far are via submissions. Poirier is also just absorbing 3.69 significant strikes per minute, better than McGregor’s 4.54 average in that department. That will be crucial for Poirier who doesn’t have to worry much about McGregor trying to win on the canvas.
McGregor is aching to get back at Poirier after suffering that loss in January. It was his second loss in three fights, which has people buzzing about whether McGregor is on the way down, but that could only be used as bulletin board material for the former lightweight champion. After getting submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018, McGregor bounced right back by defeating Donald Cerrone only to lose momentum again in the loss to Poirier. Despite his knockout loss to the American, don’t expect McGregor to change his approach dramatically in his upcoming fight against Poirier. McGregor is going to rely on the power that he has ridden all the way to the top of the UFC and into his becoming a transcendent star. He has 19 wins via knockouts and an average of 1.81 knockdowns per 15 minutes inside the Octagon. McGregor could come out of the gate like a rocket against Poirier, thinking that he can’t allow Poirier to establish the pace early again. When McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez in UFC 205, he landed 32 strikes fight in the very first round. Against Cerrone, he had 19 strikes in the opening round to just zero by Cowboy. McGregor’s last two losses had him losing the striking volume battle in the first round, so that’s a trend he will avoid happening in this showdown with Poirier.
