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One of the biggest UFC fights of 2021 has officially been confirmed this week, as Conor McGregor’s trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier is now signed for UFC 264.
The last time Conor McGregor fought Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, he was TKO’d in the second round. So outside of not eating so many leg kicks, what adjustments should he make to win?
The good news for McGregor is that this certainly isn’t an impossible task for him. The bad news is that he’ll need to change a lot from that last fight to pull it off.
With that in mind, forgetting about leg kicks, here are five adjustments Conor McGregor needs to make in order to beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
#1 Not get hit as cleanly as he did at UFC 257
It sounds pretty self-explanatory for any UFC fighter that they should avoid being hit cleanly in order to win a fight.
But for Conor McGregor’s trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier, the importance only increases.
That’s because just like a number of great fighters before him – think Chuck Liddell and BJ Penn – in his early days, The Notorious One was more than happy to take a big shot in order to give a bigger one back.
McGregor’s greatest win – his victory over Jose Aldo at UFC 194 – saw him take a huge shot from the Brazilian right before he landed his knockout blow. But back then, McGregor had the chin to take shots like that.
These days, however, like any fighter, McGregor’s chin has begun to wane somewhat. And at UFC 257, he clearly underestimated Poirier’s punching power.
That was probably because McGregor remembered the power Poirier possessed in his hands during their first fight at UFC 178 back in 2014.
However, that fight was at 145lbs – and Poirier’s power has increased dramatically as he’s moved up in weight.
This isn’t an impossible task for McGregor, either. He never led with his chin before and was always adept at slipping punches in order to counter.
If he can be humble enough to recognize that he can’t simply absorb shots from Poirier, then the fight becomes much more winnable.
#2 Work on cardio to avoid gassing out
Conor McGregor is undoubtedly in great physical shape, and despite numerous moves up in weight, he’s never carried a great deal of body fat.
However, the Irishman’s cardio remains somewhat of a question mark.
McGregor’s early UFC fights – outside of a takedown-heavy win over Max Holloway – all ended early, with The Notorious One taking out his foes in quick fashion.
But his cardio came under serious question during his two fights with Nate Diaz in 2016. Both fights saw McGregor run out of steam, although the second fight also saw him gain a second wind and fight back well in the later rounds.
Since then, though, we’ve seen him run out of gas against both Khabib Nurmagomedov and, more recently, Dustin Poirier.
Essentially, had McGregor had more gas left in his tank, he may well have been able to avoid the fight-ending barrage that Poirier hit him with.
So with that considered, it’s absolutely imperative that the Irishman improves his cardio this time around. If that involves a ton of road running in his camp, then so be it.
#3 Move away from a boxing-heavy gameplan
Perhaps the biggest cause of Conor McGregor’s downfall at UFC 257 was the fact that he came in looking like he intended to box with Dustin Poirier and do little else.
McGregor has always been a heavy hitter throughout his UFC career. But despite dabbling in the world of boxing for his 2017 fight with Floyd Mayweather, he isn’t actually the best boxer in the UFC.
The Irishman doesn’t really utilize a jab, his head movement could be better. While he’s a fantastic counterpuncher and a heavy hitter, he doesn’t use a lot of combination work either.
Essentially, McGregor got to the top of the UFC by utilizing a varied striking game as well as plenty of in-and-out movement, mind games, and inch-perfect timing.
If he wants to beat Poirier at UFC 264 and win their trilogy, McGregor needs to take a step back from a boxing-oriented game.
McGregor needs to bring back those nasty front kicks he used to break down Chad Mendes’ body, throw the kind of head kicks that he used to take out Donald Cerrone.
Simply put, boxing alone just won’t cut it for McGregor to succeed in the UFC in 2021.
#4 Utilize the clinch
Based on what we’ve seen from both men in their UFC careers, it’s probably fair to suggest that Dustin Poirier would have an advantage over Conor McGregor on the ground.
However, winning a fight in the UFC can often be about surprising your opponent – and one way that McGregor could do that against Poirier might be to attack him from the clinch.
After all, the Irishman may well be somewhat underrated from close quarters.
The most memorable clinch attack McGregor has used in the UFC undoubtedly came in his 2020 fight with Donald Cerrone. McGregor nailed Cowboy with a series of shoulder strikes that broke his nose, clearly taking him by surprise.
He also showed off some ferocious clinch work in his second fight with Nate Diaz, using the position to both survive a barrage from Diaz and also land some heavy elbows and knees on his foe.
With Poirier unlikely to look for takedowns on the Irishman, the clinch is definitely a position that McGregor should look to utilize in this fight.
And if he’s feeling really brave, he could always mix in some takedowns – as he did against Max Holloway – to really change things up. If nothing else, Poirier would never see them coming.
#5 Focus on movement and timing
When Conor McGregor took just 13 seconds to knock Jose Aldo out at UFC 194, becoming the first man to beat him in over a decade in the process, he uttered a now-famous comment afterward.
According to McGregor, in MMA, “precision beats power and timing beats speed."
That philosophy definitely worked for the Irishman during his rise to the top of the UFC.
While The Notorious One did carry unusual power in his hands, he also knew exactly where and how to land the killer blow on his foe by setting up his shots with his movement and timing.
Just look back at his initial win over Dustin Poirier or Eddie Alvarez's knockout for examples of this.
Back then, McGregor was light on his feet, springing in and out of range, and seemingly had a freakish ability to read his opponents' movement.
He even employed a so-called “movement coach” – Ido Portal – to work on this side of his game.
Unfortunately, McGregor’s movement was entirely lacking against Poirier at UFC 257 and instead, he deployed a flat-footed attack that just didn’t work.
But surely, the old movement and timing-based McGregor is still in there somewhere – and if he can bring that style back at UFC 264, he’ll have a chance of beating Poirier.
