In 2014, a brash young Irishman named Conor McGregor made Dustin Poirier a stepping stone on his way to superstardom.
For seven years, Poirier had to bide his time. As McGregor won two world titles and made himself the biggest pay-per-view draw in MMA – maybe the single biggest mainstream star in the sport’s history – Poirier toiled, building himself into one of the world’s top lightweights in war after war.
It wasn’t until Saturday, what felt like a lifetime later, that Poirier got another shot at McGregor. This time, it was Poirier turning McGregor into a stepping stone. In about a round and a half, Dustin Poirier destroyed McGregor’s last remaining mystique, shocking the world by becoming the first man ever to knock McGregor out.
In doing so, Poirier may have at last provided a blueprint for a striker to beat Conor McGregor. We had seen McGregor lose twice before in his UFC career, but both against physically stronger grapplers: first Nate Diaz, and later Khabib Nurmagomedov, who managed to get on McGregor, wear him down, drag him into deep waters, and submit him.
In McGregor’s entire career, the only striking-dominant fighter to make it past the second round was a young Max Holloway, who took McGregor the distance in the Irishman’s second UFC fight. McGregor’s striking skill, as much as his charisma and trash talk, made him a legend and a mainstream superstar. He’s a walking highlight on the feet, and it was why even after his long layoffs I favored him in Saturday’s fight. Poirier, at his heart, is a brawler. He thrives in bloody wars, getting on the inside, taking a few shots and giving them back, relying on his power, toughness and heart to shine through. I didn’t think you could fight that way against McGregor and survive.
But Poirier didn’t fight that way on Saturday. The McGregor who showed up on Saturday may not have been the absolute peak McGregor we saw circa 2015, but it was something approximating it. Early on, he looked sharp, quick and powerful, winning the first round and legitimately hurting Poirier with a right hand late in the frame.
All through that round, however, Poirier was making investments. Never a grappler, Poirier took McGregor down within the first minute and showed the level change several more times – he wasn’t able to hold McGregor down, but he was never going to. He just wanted to put that thought in McGregor’s mind, and it proved to be invaluable later in the fight. And then, of course, there were the withering calf kicks that deadened McGregor’s lead leg and have been the talk of the MMA world, taking the juice out of McGregor’s attack.
The main challenge against Conor McGregor is to survive the early goings. McGregor is one of the ultimate fast-starters in MMA history. Against Poirier, he won the first round, but Poirier’s plan was never to win the first round. In a scoring sense, Poirier’s point wasn’t to win those striking exchanges. It was to use his head movement to avoid McGregor’s KO power, threaten the takedown, batter him with the leg kicks, and even the playing field moving forward.
McGregor aided Poirier with his stance. Earlier on in his career, McGregor was light on his feet, bouncing and moving constantly with incredible quickness. Seemingly since his encounter with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, he’s shifted towards a more static boxing-style stance, much heavier on his lead right leg. Against Poirier, a southpaw, that made his leg a gigantic, blinking target. Poirier attacked that target ruthlessly, swelling it up bad and taking away his movement.
It’s McGregor’s speed and quickness, as much as his power, that has made him special throughout his career. With that gone, Poirier was able to advance and start trading with little fear. Poirier, one of the most formidable close-up boxers in mixed martial arts, had a helpless target. He poured it on, and ended McGregor’s night.
Poirier and his team identified a unique problem, put together the perfect gameplan, and executed it flawlessly. It was a thing of beauty. And in future fights, you can probably expect McGregor opponents to try something similar. Not everyone is a skilled enough striker to pull it off, but one could easily see someone like Justin Gaethje, himself renowned for his punishing leg kicks, attempt to follow the same plan with success.
Until then, the onus is on McGregor to prove that not only does he plan on staying around for real, but that he cares enough about being a champion again to make the major adjustments he needs to make. But once might have been enough. The sight of McGregor down on the canvas has already been memed to death, and his reputation as a feared killer might have been banished for good.
In his place is Dustin Poirier, one of the hardest, most battle-tested men in UFC history, an all-time badass who’s faced one of the most difficult strengths of schedule you can imagine over the last five years and won almost every time. To avenge one of his most famous losses, he needed to fight the perfect fight. He did, and the UFC’s premier division has a new king.
The Big Fight 