LAS VEGAS – Dustin Poirier wasn’t fazed by much of Conor McGregor’s pre-fight trash-talk, but there was a repeated theme in which he took great exception.
After a relatively quiet training camp from McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) with next to no interviews, the Irishman came into his UFC 264 media obligations with “kill” and “murder” on his mind – themes that rubbed Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) the wrong way.
“Conor said some nasty stuff that didn’t make it on Embedded,” Poirier told MMA Junkie at a post-fight news conference. “Maybe when the behind-the-scenes for this fight airs, you’ll see him on the ground still saying some really bad stuff. But even that stuff being said, I don’t wish serious harm like that on nobody. The guy’s got kids. I want him to go home safe to his family. I pray before these fights.
“Every time before I walk through that octagon door, I’m praying not for me to win,” Poirier continued. “I’m praying that we both get out of there safe. I know what I’m going to try to do to him and I know what he’s going to try to do with me.”
Due to the combination of the over-the-top trash talk and the way the fight ended, Poirier thinks there’s unfinished business with McGregor – a sentiment UFC president Dana White echoed after the fight.
“We are going to fight again whether it’s in the octagon or on the sidewalk,” Poirier said. You don’t say the stuff he said. … My wife is solid as a rock. I’m not worried about that. That’s noise. He was saying he was going to kill me. You don’t say stuff like that – that he was going to murder me. You don’t say stuff like that. You don’t say stuff about people’s wives either, but I know that that’s zero-chance. There is a chance somebody could die. You don’t say that. You don’t wish that on anybody.”
Poirier currently leads the lifetime head-to-head series two wins to McGregor’s one.
UFC 264 took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.
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