Dustin Poirier Believes He Shouldn’t Be The Underdog In Conor McGregor Rematch
Top UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier has been at the top of the sport for the longest time and heading into his rematch against Conor McGregor feels as though he should be the favorite.
Speaking to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Poirier shared some reasons why he feels like he shouldn’t be the underdog heading into this weekend’s main event.
“Man I’ve been the underdog in so many fights and got my hand raised, I’ve been the underdog my whole life,” Poirier explained. “I’m comfortable in this position and no I do not think I should be.”
“I’ve been putting in the work, I’ve been beating the best guys in the world, I’ve been in these battles and getting my hand raised I always find a way.”
Going into the rematch much like their intial matchup Poirier enters the higher ranked opponent, however, with the initial win and popularity behind McGregor he will enter the UFC 257 main event again as the favorite.
In the pair’s first bout at UFC 178, McGregor came away with a knockout victory quickly in the first round. This fight took place at 145 pounds which is the key difference in the upcoming matchup taking place at 155 pounds.
Speaking about the loss Poirier shared with Smith that he felt too “emotional” in the lead-up to that fight, continuing to explain that this time around he doesn’t care what others think.
Over the past two years, McGregor has only competed in MMA twice with a loss coming to the Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 and a knockout victory over Donald Cerrone in January of 2020.
During this time Poirier has remained active putting together a streak of wins to earn a title shot which he was unsuccessful at before returning to claim victory against rising contender Dan Hooker in June of 2020.
