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Conor McGregor's friend and sparring partner, 'The Russian Hammer' Artem Lobov, talked about how he thinks The Notorious One's rematch with Dustin Poirier will unfold at UFC 257 on January 23.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Lobov dissected McGregor's skills that he thinks will help the Irishman build his road to victory once more against Poirier. The Ireland-based Russian said he couldn't exploit Conor McGregor's training party that went to a private camp in Portugal's Algarve region.
"Yeah, to be honest, we actually didn't get to train in this camp, mainly because of this whole COVID sh*t, you know? It just made moving around very hard, like anytime you left Ireland, you had to quarantine for two weeks whenever you came back. So that made his way very difficult. We didn't really get to train together much, but who knows, perhaps after this fight, I will fly out to Conor and help him with some of his sparring and some of his preparation for his own fight. I will definitely be going out there to watch the fight, not even sure where the fight is going to be yet, but I will be there to support one hundred percent."
For Lobov, people fail to recognize that Poirier is one of the best UFC Lightweight fighters only because they don't want to admit that Conor McGregor defeated him so quickly in their first encounter at UFC 178 in 2014.
"I see this fight going exactly the same way [as the first]. The reason being is that everybody's trying to make it out like Poirier wasn't good before he fought Conor or something like that as if he has changed so much. No, remember what Poirier was? He was number five UFC featherweight in the world," observed Lobov. "He was destroying guys. Do you remember his fight with [Erik] Koch? Who was [UFC] top ten featherweight at the time, he stopped him. [Diego] Brandao, you know? This guy was an absolute killer. It's just that people don't want to give Conor credit for destroying these guys. Poirier was an absolute killer back then."
Lobov examined that the fighting style of Conor McGregor will be the real differentiator in the upcoming UFC Lightweight bout. He expects that his friend will knockout Poirier still in the first round, exactly like in the first time they met six years ago.
"Stylistically, his [McGregor] style just matches up so well against Poirier, that Conor will stop him again in the first round, and it will be no different from their first meeting, you know what I mean? Poirier was good before they fought for the first time. It is just that Conor was so good that he destroyed Poirier like that. And then, after that, Poirier went back to doing what he was doing before he fought Conor: dominating and being a very good fighter. So, I don't see anything changing this time around, it is going to be exactly the same thing, and Conor is going to stop him in the first round."
Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier is one of UFC most awaited bouts for next year
After a year away from the octagon, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return this year when he defeated Donald Cerrone via TKO after only 40 seconds of battle. His last UFC fight before that was a title show against then-UFC Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov which Conor McGregor lost.
As always, ahead of a fight, Conor McGregor has been busy on his social media. He has shared a picture showing his impressive shape and, most recently, has created speculation over a series of cryptic messages addressed to a mysterious person. The since-deleted messages by Conor McGregor are rumored to have been directed at Nurmagomedov.
Dustin Poirier's last fight was against Dan Hooker, where he defeated his opponent via unanimous decision. Earlier, Poirier also lost his title shot against Nurmagomedov.
It will be interesting to see if Lobov's prediction will come true when Conor McGregor will lock horns with Poirier on 23rd January.
