Tag Archive for: Conor McGregor

5 Takeaways from McGregor’s Loss, More in UFC 264

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With McGregor breaking his tibia at the end of the first round, the Poirier-McGregor trilogy came to an end. After a dominant first round, Dustin Poirier seemed like he was on his way to another win but then the unfortunate injury cut things short. The series goes to Poirier and now he’s on his way to fight Charles Oliveira for the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship. The rest of the card was loaded with fighters taking the next step in their UFC career. Let’s take a look at the top takeaways from this weekend’s card

 

  1. There seems to be one more chapter left in the Poirier McGregor Series

 

Although he was winning the first round handily, Dustin Poirier wasn’t able to put the finishing stamp on this fight. With the lack of closure on this fight and the continuation of the trash talk and bad blood, it seems like these guys are destined to throw down in the octagon once more. When it comes to how their paths will intersect again, that’s a much tougher question to answer. Dustin will be on his way to fighting Charles Oliveira for the belt. On the other hand Conor has to recover from this injury and now is coming in 3-4 for his last 7 MMA fights. Conor truthfully is 2-3 wins away from legitimately challenging for UFC Gold once again. But this is Conor McGregor, and he tends to get what he wants. If Dustin Poirier becomes champion and pulls a Kamaru Usman and calls out the money fight with Conor McGregor, we could see this fight again. If not in that manner, we can see this fight in 2-3 years after Dustin might be past his title reign and at 34-35, these guys will still be in great competitive shape. If Dustin fails to win the belt, maybe that’s the next fight for him since it would get him probably the most money out of any fight. Regardless, this rivalry seems far from over and I feel we are bound to see these two grace the octagon once again.

 

2. Gilbert Burns is one (small) step closer to a shot at UFC Gold

 

Gilbert Burns was able to solve the puzzle of Wonderboy Thompson in the co-main event of the card, and regardless of Dana White wanting to tout his win as a “boring” one, this sets him one step closer to a rematch with Kamaru Usman. Burns was able to rock Usman in the first round of their first encounter and on his account he claimed to get over-excited chasing the finish. That lead to his ultimate demise, but not without showing he does have the ability to put the champ in danger. Stephen Thompson has some of the best takedown defense and his wide karate stance and unique usage of kicks makes him a hard puzzle to figure out. Burns was able to close the distance and rely on his ground game expertise in route to tying a personal best 3 takedowns. With this win, he shouldn’t need more than another win or two to be able to challenge Usman once again.

 

3. Sean O’ Malley has to fight a top Bantamweight next 

 

Sean O’Malley and Kris Moutinho put on an absolute show to start off the pay-per-view card. The Sugar Show was in full effect with O’Malley showboating in between strikes and hitting at a near record clip. He landed 230 significant strikes before Herb Dean saw enough. But Kris Moutinho raised his stock just as much in this fight, if not more. He continued to walk O’Malley down even after getting dropped at the end of the first round. He would’ve made it to the scorecards if Dean didn’t waive the fight off but it was more than likely for his own good. This fight showed us that O’Malley is leaps and bounds ahead of someone who is a newcomer and is worthy of a top bantamweight to fight next. Whether it’s Cody Garbrandt, Dominick Cruz, Petr Yan, or “Fob Ront” (His own personal twist on Rob Font) is still yet to be seen 

 

4. Tai Tuivasa is evidence of building your own star 

 

Tai Tuivasa has become beloved by fans because of his famous post fight “shoey”. When he stepped into the arena during his walkout, the crowd erupted for one of the biggest pops of the night. Tai is proof that you can build your own star in the UFC. He’s been interactive with fans on social media and shows the awesome personality he has on top of being a great Heavyweight. It’s in the best interest of the UFC for more of their fighters to understand how to build fandom behind your name. Of course winning will always be number one, but if you’re able to create a community of fans in the UFC, you will have unbound support throughout your career. 

 

5. Michel Periera is our next exciting fighter rising up the ranks

 

Periera’s fight vs Niko Price was a fight between two of the most exciting, spontaneous fighters there. With this win, he has won 4 of his 6 UFC fights, 5 of 6 if you don’t count his DQ loss vs Diego Sanchez which he was winning handily. He’s proven to be able to do it on the ground and standing up, and his unique style makes him a hard person to imitate in training. With some good competition under his belt like Niko Price and Khaos Williams, it seems like now is the time to put him up against an upper echelon guy in this division. Two guys I feel would be great learning matchups for him would be Carlos Condit, who’s coming off of a loss now or Geoff Neal who is on a slight skid. One thing’s for sure for Periera, his unique fighting style and showmanship in the ring will make him a name to remember.

 

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Five Takeaways from the McGregor-Poirier Presser

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Leading up to potentially the biggest fight in UFC history, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier took two completely different approaches going into the press conference. Conor came in as the Conor we knew when he made his phenomenal run, making quirky remarks, waging psychological warfare, and guaranteeing victory. On the other hand, Dustin kept everything strictly business, not biting at any bait thrown out by McGregor or paying any mind to the pro-Conor crowd. But he did not have a lack of confidence or focus coming in. This led to a perfect balance of two fighters on the opposite ends of the spectrum going right at each other. Let’s take a look at some of the top takeaways from the press conference 

 

  1. Dustin delivered the best line of the Press conference

Before I can deliver the line in a way that was as powerful as how Dustin said it, some context is needed. For the first 15 minutes of the press conference, McGregor would continually attack Dustin while Dustin would remain calm. After these continual attacks, one media member asked Conor why he went from being kind in the buildup to the last fight to now flipping the switch end being aggressive, as to which Dustin answered

 

 “Because he got knocked the f#%k out… Not McGregor Fast, McGregor sleep” 

 

This comment got the biggest pop of the night and left Conor unable to say anything. Dustin picked his shot perfectly and delivered exactly what needed to be delivered without overdoing it. He kept quiet for most of the time but when he spoke, it was worth listening to.. 

 

  1. Conor has no lack of volume on the Mic

 

It was very evident that from the start of the press conference, we were going to see the McGregor of old. The psychological warfare, the head games, the non stop verbal shots, it was all there for Conor. Every time a question was asked to Dustin, Conor would interject and trash Dustin in whichever way he could. Conor seemed to have prepared a myriad of one liners to try and get into Dustin’s head. From personal attacks to his wife to just saying he sees a dead man, there was no shortage of the verbal ammunition McGregor had prepared.

 

(Catch a preview of the fight with Alex Donno’s Five Rounds sponsored by Quarterdeck)

 

 

  1. Dustin was unaffected by the trash talk

The biggest growth for “The Diamond” from the first fight might be his mental growth. Undoubtedly his skills in the octagon have taken leaps and bounds but for Dustin, the mental edge that he brings into every fight is one that is rarely seen. He famously says 

“ A fight isn’t a fight until there’s something to overcome” 

In this press conference, Conor would continually cut Dustin off, talk trash to him, get the crowd riled up and even try to make things personal by bringing up his wife. At the end of all of it, Dustin was completely unphased by any of it, smiling away. When one reporter asked both guys if they respect each other, Conor gave his classic “ I don’t give a fook” while Dustin said yes I respect Conor and everything he’s done. At that moment the world knew that the pressure from early in his career has made The Diamond unbreakable. 

 

  1. Conor’s losses have affected his luster 

When Conor McGregor was going to face Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight championship, he was the winner of 15 straight. That type of winning against top level competition was nearly unheard of and the way he was knocking people out left and right touted his left hand “The Kiss of Death”. Even going into the Khabib fight he was the winner of 18 of his last 19 in the UFC so the star still shined. But now being 3-3 in his last 6 with his only win since 2016 being a win over a past-prime Cowboy Cerrone, that threat and mystique of Conor is no longer there. Of course he is still the sport’s biggest star, but is he still the top of the competitive mountain? Absolutely not. He got knocked out by Dustin Poirier and  choked out by Khabib and Nate Diaz. Those losses take away the invincibility factor and make his words have less meaning. Athletes now understand it’s what’s done inside the Octagon that really counts, and Conor can only affect you if you buy into what he says. 

 

  1. Dustin won the Press Conference 

When it came down to it, we saw what we thought we would see with both guys. Conor came out constantly attacking Dustin and on the other hand Dustin would let most of it slide. But when it came to delivering the KO punch, Dustin delivered it perfectly, getting the biggest reaction from a Pro-McGregor Crowd. Add that on to the unphased mentality of Dustin Poirier and it was clear that McGregor was unable to get into Dustin’s head. Conversely, the small lines that Dustin did say would shut Conor up completely, taking him out of his element and looking starved for a comeback. Of course we will see how it plays out in the octagon but when it came to the verbal warfare, tally this win down for Dustin Poirier.

 

You can follow Johnathan on Twitter @ThreePieceCombo