Years ago, ahead of their UFC 178 fight in the featherweight division, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier crossed paths for the very first time.
You can relive their first-ever encounter, which occurred in the lobby of the UFC 178 fighter hotel, in a recent Instagram post from the UFC. See it below:
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Days after that first encounter, McGregor and Poirier came face-to-face again, this time at the card’s weigh-ins. That encounter was no less intense.
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After the UFC 178 weigh-ins concluded, McGregor and Poirier’s next meeting occurred in the Octagon. McGregor won the fight by first-round knockout.
Years later, and the pair are now scheduled to rematch in the lightweight division in the main event of UFC 257 on January 23.
Speaking to MMA Junkie ahead of this rematch, Poirier conceded that McGregor got into his head before their first fight—and we can see evidence of that in the clips above.
“He was obviously a great fighter in finishing a bunch of guys before me in his UFC career, but at this point we’re both so much more established and have so much more experience, just more mature fighters, and I think you get a completely different fight here,” Poirier said, looking back on his first fight with MCGregor. “I was emotional in the first one — I wanted to hurt the guy. This time I just want to outsmart him, just want to beat him. This is business. This isn’t any ill will towards the guy.
“When I was younger, I used to fight with a lot of emotion,” Poirier added, explaining what’s motivating him against McGregor this time around. “This isn’t the same thing for me. This isn’t about getting even for me. This isn’t like a revenge type of thing for me. This is about moving my career forward, about putting my family in a better spot. It’s not trying to get back a guy who got me. This is just business.”
Who do you think will win when Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier fight again this January?