UFC 318 star Dustin Poirier knew what he needed to do to exact revenge on Conor McGregor in their second and third fights.
Saturday will see Poirier make his final farewell as an active fighter 18 years on from his debut as a professional.
Poirier will retire in UFC 318’s main event, which will feature his challenge for Max Holloway’s BMF title in their trilogy fight at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center. While trilogies are rare in MMA, it will not be the Louisianan’s first.
‘The Diamond’ has shared the cage with the sport’s biggest superstar three times, and he came out on the winning side after recognizing his key mistake first time around.
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Dustin Poirier correctly said he would beat Conor McGregor if he didn’t fight emotionally
After defeats to ‘The Korean Zombie’ and Cub Swanson, Poirier’s planned surge up the UFC’s featherweight ladder was further stalled by McGregor at UFC 178 in 2014.
Following a heated build-up that saw both men go back-and-forth, the Irishman got the last laugh when he stopped ‘The Diamond’ via TKO in less than two minutes.
Poirier was certainly not the last opponent of McGregor’s who fell victim to the Dubliner’s trash talk and mental game. But not everyone got the chance for a do-over.
While speaking to Sky Sports in 2015, Poirier expressed interest in a rematch down the line and insisted that he would be the better fighter once they shared the cage without him being emotionally compromised.
“There are a lot of reasons why it went wrong for me, but he was just better that night,” Poirier said. “I don’t believe in calling shots ‘lucky’ because he threw it, I moved, and I got hit by it. It was a well-placed, well thought-out punch that he threw. It hit me and I went down early.
“I was very emotional, just because of everything that had gone on between me and Conor. The build-up to the fight between us made me fight emotionally, rather than relaxed, which is how I like to fight.”
With that in mind, Poirier correctly predicted that without the same emotional mindset leading into the fight and with the rematch taking place at lightweight, he would avoid McGregor’s kill shots and land his own.
“I am 100 percent willing to fight Conor again, because the first time, we didn’t really get the chance to fight,” Poirier said. “He hit me with a good shot and I went down. I’d love to do it again.
“It would be a different fight at 145 pounds, and definitely if he comes up to 155. I wouldn’t get hit with that shot again, and I wouldn’t let myself get so emotional.
“I know I could beat him – I’m a better fighter than I showed last time,” Poirier added.
Poirier knocked out McGregor at UFC 257, making good on those remarks six years later.
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Dustin Poirier has the chance for a clean sweep in his second UFC trilogy
After a dominant first round for Poirier at UFC 264 ended with McGregor breaking his leg, ‘The Diamond’ took a 2-1 lead over the Irishman in their series.
Now, four years later, ‘The Diamond’ has the chance to finish his career with another, more lopsided trilogy scoreline.
Poirier has faced his retirement fight opponent twice before, having submitted Holloway in the Hawaiian’s UFC debut in 2012 before defeating him in a memorable five-round war to capture the interim lightweight title six years later.
With ‘Blessed’ having already lost all three of his fights against Alexander Volkanovski, he is tasked with pulling one back on Poirier if he is to avoid a second clean sweep defeat in a UFC trilogy.