Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt defended Conor McGregor against online backlash after a KO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.

McGregor was brutally knocked out by Poirier in the main event of UFC 257 in the second round. McGregor started off the fight strong in the first round, but Poirier kept landing low kicks that hurt McGregor and greatly impacted his mobility. Poirier was able to take advantage of his wobbly opponent and box him up on the feet and knock him out in devastating fashion for the biggest win of his career to date. Not to mention, Poirier also avenged his prior loss.

In the wake of McGregor’s loss, a number of other fighters have taken to social media to criticize the Irishman, including Floyd Mayweather, Jake Paul, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Khamzat Chimaev, and Patricio Pitbull. For a guy who talks a big game like McGregor, the negative backlash when he loses comes with the territory. But the assertion that McGregor is all of a sudden washed up and can’t fight someone like Paul is something that didn’t sit well with Garbrandt.

In response to a reporter who said McGregor vs. Paul would be a 50/50 fight, Garbrandt took to social media to defend McGregor from the criticism. Instead of using the comment as an opportunity to kick McGregor while he was down as others have, Garbrandt instead used the tweet as a chance to praise McGregor’s opponent Poirier on a terrific victory. Check out his Twitter below.

Bro are you fuckin kidding me?? @TheNotoriousMMA would put @jakepaul in a body bag. What are you basing this off of? Last nights fight @DustinPoirier is a fuckin animal. https://t.co/aOkABKc6Wp

— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) January 24, 2021

Bro are you f*ckin kidding me?? @TheNotoriousMMA would put @jakepaul in a body bag. What are you basing this off of? Last nights fight @DustinPoirier is a f*ckin animal.

Do you agree with Cody Garbrandt that Conor McGregor would destroy Jake Paul despite the brutal KO loss he suffered to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257?