5 current UFC lightweights who could've beaten Conor McGregor in his prime

#4. Charles OIiveira vs. prime Conor McGregor

Charles Oliveira is currently the best lightweight in the UFC

Current UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is a genuinely brilliant fighter, particularly when it comes to his submission skills. The owner of perhaps the most venomous submission game in UFC history, ‘Do Bronx’ has a total of 14 submission wins to his name in the octagon.

But could the Brazilian have beaten a prime Conor McGregor? It’s a debatable question, but the answer is most likely yes.

When McGregor debuted with the UFC in 2013, he held an MMA record of 12-2 – but notably, both of his losses had come via submission. That suggests that the ground game was never the Irishman’s strong point.

Essentially, there can be no doubt that any version of Charles Oliveira could beat any version of Conor McGregor on the ground, but could ‘Do Bronx’ have put a prime ‘Notorious’ on his back?

JUST THAT QUICKLY! 👀🇧🇷 Oliveira ends the night from #UFCBrasilia. pic.twitter.com/m8uJShU4kc

— UFC (@ufc) March 15, 2020

If you look at the current version of Oliveira, the answer is almost certainly yes. While he doesn’t come from a strong amateur wrestling background, ‘Do Bronx’ has developed a highly effective wrestling game based around impressive strength. For instance, he slammed Tony Ferguson to the ground, and ‘El Cucuy’ is an excellent wrestler in his own right.

Oliveira may have had trouble closing the distance on a prime McGregor, who was a master of cutting angles inside the octagon to catch an onrushing opponent with a nasty strike.

But it was against shorter opponents like Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. Oliveira on the other hand has a 74” reach, identical to that of McGregor. Without that length and reach advantage, prime McGregor would’ve found it hard to keep Oliveira off him, and likely would’ve been dragged to the ground and submitted.

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#3. Dustin Poirier vs. prime Conor McGregor

Dustin Poirier beat Conor McGregor twice this year, but could he have done it with the Irishman in his prime?

Okay, so on the face of it, it seems tricky to make the argument that Dustin Poirier could’ve beaten Conor McGregor in his prime. After all, McGregor knocked him out in their first meeting in 2014 in a matter of minutes.

And while Poirier obviously now has two wins over ‘The Notorious’ megastar, both by TKO, it’s fair to say that the McGregor we saw in those two fights wasn’t close to the same Conor McGregor who knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight crown in 2016.

THE DIAMOND DOES IT 💎Dustin Poirier beats Conor McGregor by KO at #UFC257 and gets redemption for his 2014 loss @espnmma pic.twitter.com/5mj7vPtnqz

— ESPN (@espn) January 24, 2021

However, the current iteration of Poirier against that version of Conor McGregor would be a tight fight to call, and there’d definitely be a case for suggesting that ‘The Diamond’ would win.

Ever since he moved to 155 pounds in 2015 following that loss to McGregor, Poirier has been developing his overall game. And since 2018, we’ve seen huge leaps and bounds in his striking game in particular.

‘The Diamond’ now possesses one of the most dangerous pressure-boxing games in the UFC. Poirier loves nothing more than to walk his opponents down, forcing them back, and when he’s got them on the retreat, he unleashes brutal combinations until they wilt.

Against a prime Conor McGregor, would this gameplan have worked? There’s no reason why it shouldn’t. McGregor's best version was excellent when it came to evading his opponents using smart footwork before landing counters, but Poirier’s use of angles is also excellent.

And more to the point, since moving to lightweight, ‘The Diamond’ appears to be far more durable than he ever was at 145 pounds, giving him a good chance of being able to eat McGregor’s best shots without going down.

Add in Poirier’s brutal punching power, and while a fight with prime Conor McGregor likely would’ve been closer than their clashes at UFC 257 and UFC 264, ‘The Diamond’ would’ve been more than capable of winning.