Conor McGregor plans to give Dustin Poirier exactly what he wants in their UFC 264 trilogy fight.
Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) recently said McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) “reeks of insecurity” after the former two-division UFC champ made a comment daring his opponent to avoid shooting for takedowns when they meet in Saturday’s headliner.
That didn’t sit with McGregor, who said he’s prepared and willing to compete with Poirier in every single area when they clash for a third and likely final time at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
“(I’m going to) give him a proper head kick,” McGregor said during an Instagram Live Q&A on Saturday. “There will be a lot of weapons produced on the night, that’s for sure. He wants mixed martial arts? He’s going to get it.
“I’ve been busy putting in the work. Full focus, fully immersed in mixed martial arts. It’s been nothing but mixed martial arts, so I’m ready to put on a show.”
McGregor insists he’s sincere when he talks about his level of commitment to this fight. Following his second-round TKO loss to Poirier in their second meeting at UFC 257 in January, UFC president Dana White questioned how dedicated McGregor can really be when he’s so financially successful, and has already accomplished so much in the fight game.
According to McGregor, however, he’s been able to dig down and find the motivation he needs to thrive at UFC 264. Part of that has been limiting media obligations in order to stay locked in on training.
“You can go through YouTube and see every interview in the book,” McGregor said. “I’ve got a job to do here. I’m back on the site. That’s the way I’m feeling here with this. Straight back on the building site.”
For McGregor, there doesn’t appear to be any lack of drive going into this fight. He doesn’t want to come out on the losing end of the series with Poirier, and also has no desire to drop back-to-back fights for the first time in his career.
Poirier comes into the trilogy with the utmost confidence given the result of the previous meeting, and hasn’t been hesitant to vocalize his self-belief going into fight night.
McGregor said that confidence is misplaced, however, and he intends to give “The Diamond” a rude awakening on fight night.
“He talks some amount lately,” McGregor said. “He’s going to pay for that, that’s for sure. That’s not going to be nice.”
