3 reasons Conor McGregor will win against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and 2 reasons he won't

2) McGregor has improved his cardio

Ever since his loss to Poirier, McGregor has been training aggressively to improve his cardio and endurance. To make this more evident, the Irishman posted stories on his social media while training in Dubai earlier in April. He was seen jogging by the sea while explaining his workout. He said:

"What's up everyone? Welcome to the McGregor Fast triathlon. We run 100kilometres, we cycle 20 kilometres and then we run another 10 kilometres. We run twice because we double run the game and we leave out the swimming because we're already swimming in it."

1) Poirier is a southpaw

Dustin Poirier is a southpaw fighter. The biggest disadvantage for a southpaw is that the right side of their body, which holds the liver, is placed in the front. It makes them susceptible to being struck on the liver, unlike in an orthodox stance where the right side of your body is at the back.

Knowing this, southpaws usually take extra care to protect their liver with a stiff guard or body movement to prevent themselves from getting knocked out by a liver shot. Poirier does not do enough of either. Whenever he is swarmed with strikes to the head, Poirier often ends up raising his hands to protect his head at the cost of exposing the right side of his body for a liver shot.

Although McGregor is a southpaw fighter himself, he is at an advantage here due to his longer reach and kicking expertise. 'The Notorious' has always aimed for all of his opponents' heads to end his fights, while keeping the body as a secondary target. However, if he chooses to make the right side of the body a primary target in this fight, he is bound to win the contest early. McGregor can either feint with strikes to the head or land them with less intent, only to make Poirier focus on defending his head. Once McGregor establishes a false intent to go for Poirier's head, 'Diamond' is likely to raise his guard. Poirier's raised hands would leave a clear opening for McGregor to exploit his opponent's liver.