{"id":113074,"date":"2014-09-21T10:20:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-21T17:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/?p=113074"},"modified":"2022-02-04T20:31:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T04:31:13","slug":"mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/","title":{"rendered":"McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He&#8217;s Not A Step Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/backend.bjpenn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG.png\" alt=\"Conor McGregor PNG\" width=\"390\" height=\"270\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-95934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG.png 390w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG-361x250.png 361w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will square off at UFC 178 this weekend in a highly anticipated matchup that has been built up by months of trash talking.<\/p>\n<p>Upon returning from ACL surgery, McGregor blasted through Diego Brandao earlier this summer at UFC Dublin, and is looking to build upon the win this weekend at UFC 178 against Poirier.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2014\/09\/ufc-178s-conor-mcgregor-journeyman-dustin-poirier-not-a-step-up-in-competition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAJunkie<\/a> about why Poirier isn&#8217;t a step up in competition.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI don\u2019t believe he\u2019s a step up or the best guy I\u2019ve ever fought.  I look in the mirror and that\u2019s the best guy I\u2019ve ever fought. For me, this fight seems easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a journeyman fighter, and that\u2019s what I see.  He doesn\u2019t impress me at all. I believe he\u2019s a basic fighter, he throws basic shots, and in my eyes he\u2019s a journeyman. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>McGregor has stated previously that &#8220;fear has a very strong stench&#8221; and that he is able to detect it in his opponents, something he detected in Poirier when the had their first staredown.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI definitely saw a broken man.  I could look through his soul when I looked into that man\u2019s eyes. He\u2019s been speaking his bit, but as I said before: Face-to-face, man-to-man, he was broken. It was as simple as that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe performance will prove that because once the cage door closes and the lights go down, you can\u2019t hide. There\u2019s nowhere to run, there\u2019s nowhere to hide. It will come out on Sept. 27 that what I\u2019m saying is true.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When the two step into the cage this Saturday night, who &#8216;ya got?<\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/evan-stoumbelis\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Evan Stoumbelis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will square off at UFC 178 this weekend in a highly anticipated matchup that has been built up by months of trash talking. Upon returning from ACL surgery, McGregor blasted through Diego Brandao earlier this summer at UFC Dublin, and is looking to build upon the win this weekend at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2616,"featured_media":95934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2681],"tags":[3884,303,9,11,15,8705],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He&#039;s Not A Step Up | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He&#039;s Not A Step Up | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will square off at UFC 178 this weekend in a highly anticipated matchup that has been built up by months of trash talking. Upon returning from ACL surgery, McGregor blasted through Diego Brandao earlier this summer at UFC Dublin, and is looking to build upon the win this weekend at [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-21T17:20:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-05T04:31:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Conor-McGregor-PNG.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BJPENN.COM News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/c76eda1459929ee246658565d177d029\"},\"headline\":\"McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He&#8217;s Not A Step Up\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-21T17:20:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T04:31:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\"},\"wordCount\":292,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Conor McGregor\",\"Dustin Poirier\",\"featured\",\"mma\",\"ufc\",\"UFC 178\"],\"articleSection\":[\"UFC NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\",\"name\":\"McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He's Not A Step Up | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-21T17:20:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-05T04:31:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/mcgregor-slams-poirier-says-hes-not-a-step-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UFC NEWS\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"McGregor Slams Poirier, Says He&#8217;s Not A Step Up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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