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The last time Conor McGregor won a fight in the UFC was back in January 2020. He did so against fight game veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246, picking up a whirlwind 40-second TKO victory.
When the Irishman's much-anticipated return was announced, most people thought that a freshly motivated Conor McGregor would take care of business as usual when he faced Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.
However, when McGregor succumbed to a second-round TKO loss against Poirier, the first one in his career, everybody was shocked. Poirier had shaken up the fight world.
Come to think of it, was the outcome of the fight as shocking as it seems to be? McGregor's fight against Donald Cerrone took place in the welterweight division. If you look at his recent form, 'Cowboy' was simply not up to the standard of opponents McGregor has been fighting recently. He fought McGregor on the back of a devastating knockout loss to Justin Gaethje.
What caused the mighty Conor McGregor to fall at UFC 257?
The fight against Dustin Poirier took place in the lightweight division, which is stacked with several world-class fighters. Apart from Khabib Nurmagomedov who is unbeaten in the UFC and has also beaten McGregor, Poirier has conquered most of the top contenders and former champions in the lightweight division.
In Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor was facing a guy who spent years working his way up to the very top of the lightweight division. A division where McGregor had only fought twice before the fight against Poirier took place. A division where McGregor last won back in 2016 against Eddie Alvarez.
Ring rust is for real. McGregor has just two wins in his last five fights if you include the beating he took against Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring in 2017. He came back from a two-year layoff to beat Cowboy last year, but after spending just 40 seconds inside the octagon in 2020, he came back in 2021 to take on a guy who has remained active in his absence.
Since his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, Conor McGregor has only fought twice in the last three years. Poirier was ready to do just about anything to get his revenge against Conor McGregor. He had the motivation and hunger to show the world that he can beat the Irishman who knocked him out in 2014. There was another massive motivation for The Diamond to win the fight.
Poirier is yet to become a UFC lightweight champion. He got his chance against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 but failed to win the fight. However, The Diamond picked himself up, dusted himself off, and got back to the drawing board. Poirier successfully survived a 25-minute-long slugfest against Dan Hooker in 2020, and his durability and strength have visibly increased since the first time he fought McGregor.
Another interesting fact here is that Poirier often spars with UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal at the ATT gym. Masvidal is much bigger than McGregor and has a kickboxing-based aggressive style similar to the Irishman. He is known for his knockout victories and could have given Poirier precisely the kind of stern test he needed to face a prolific striker like McGregor.
On the other hand, Conor McGregor likely headed into the fight with the unavoidable complacency that comes from fighting a man you've already beaten before. McGregor was confident in his skillset but unaware of the latest additions to Dustin's game.
The calf kicks, which Poirier rarely uses in other fights, played a crucial role in swinging the battle in his favor against Conor McGregor. As Daniel Cormier pointed out during the fight, most fighters training at the ATT are known for their leg kicking abilities, and they must have worked on it with Poirier ahead of this fight.
With a Karateka based flat-footed stance, Conor McGregor had absolutely zero answers for the vicious leg kicks that Poirier was landing on his lead leg. That is what ultimately set up the knockout for Poirier.
Conor McGregor was also not seen using his signature front kick to the body and relied majorly on his boxing skills in the fight. That proved to be a mistake on the Irishman's part. Once Poirier realized that he could take McGregor's best shots and stay on his feet, he grew way more confident in the fight.
In the second round, Poirier dodged quite a few of Conor McGregor's strikes and landed ones of his own before ultimately finishing the fight with a beautiful combination. McGregor's best chance was to finish the fight after hurting Poirier in the first round, but he failed to make the pressure count.
As Poirier grew into the fight and the leg kicks started taking their toll, Conor McGregor lost the plot before finally getting the living daylights knocked out of him.
