The Dustin Poirier – Conor McGregor rivalry started the conversation about mental warfare.
Before the Dustin Poirier-Conor McGregor fight, people saw ‘The Notorious’ as a rising knockout artist with a big mouth. However, after seeing how McGregor appeared to mentally break ‘The Diamond’, a lot of folks started prescribing to the idea that the acerbic-tongued Irishman was pretty damn handy at the mental aspect of war.
It sure looked like McGregor had taken up residence in Poirier’s head during fight week. A very awkward encounter in the fighters’ hotel really backed this claim up. Once Poirer spotted McGregor in the lobby, he stopped in his tracks, stared him down, couldn’t maintain eye contact and exited in a huff.
UFC Embedded
In the very next scene, Poirer was heard letting it all out to his coach Mike Brown. He was still fired up about the encounter.
“I’ve never disliked some guy that much that I ever fought.”
A few days later, Poirer was on the canvas looking up at Herb Dean waving his arms. McGregor had landed flush with his trusty left hand and knocked him out in the very first round. To this day, a lot of people believe that McGregor had won the fight before they even stepped inside the cage.
And even after going through all that, Poirier is leaning towards Khabib Nurmagomedov defeating Conor McGregor.
So you’re saying… there’s a chance?
Poirier gave an early prediction for UFC 229’s headliner on the MMA Hour. He feels as though the undefeated Dagestani has the requisite skills to win the fight, although he’s unsure whether or not there will be a finish.
That being said, he’s not counting out his former foe just yet.
“I mean (McGregor) has a huge chance. He’s got great timing, great distance, we’ll just see if the takedown defence holds up and the cardio holds up. That’s all he has to do. I think the openings will be there but he just has to stand the test of the wrestling and the conditioning, the physical part that Khabib’s going to put on in early in the fight.”
McGregor hasn’t fought inside the Octagon since August 2016. However, Poirer doesn’t foresee ring rust being an issue.
“It’s all a mindset, really. Once you get your rhythm down, your timing, everything else falls into place.”
If you are to believe Firas Zahabi’s theory, McGregor may not actually be able to fix his perceived cardio problem.
