The Notorious (22-4) continues to rebuild after his crushing defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov which led to a brawl and bitter feud between the two camps. Previous opponent Poirier (26-6) is looking to halt the hype train and prevent McGregor from putting on what he promises to be a “masterpiece”. The Irishman remains confident though, as always, having dispatched the American with ease back at UFC 178 back in 2014 in a win that announced the birth of “Mystic Mac”. And while there was great respect between the two fighters at the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, McGregor could not resist hitting out at The Diamond’s team. Dana White has also provided the added intrigue that a seriously impressive performance from either fighter could perk the interest of Khabib to come out of retirement. With the Irishman has essentially vowed to do just that, insisting he will “create magic” and put on a “flawless clinic” this weekend on the Fight Island in Abu Dhabi: “That’s a complete confidence in my preparation and my abilities. I feel I can do it. I think I possibly will hit him early and hurt him.”
The card also includes Dan Hooker vs Michael Chandler, Jessica Eye vs Joanne Calderwood, Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar and Marina Rodriguez vs Amanda Ribas. It has predictably not been a quiet build-up to the fight for McGregor, with a woman filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against him over injuries alleged to have been suffered in relation to events in 2018, with the former UFC champion denying any wrongdoing. We’ll be providing live updates from today’s weigh-ins, including the ceremonial weigh-ins later, and you can expect fireworks from McGregor on the scales on the eve of another huge night for MMA:
McGREGOR vs POIRIER ODDS
McGregor by knockout: 4/5
McGregor by submission: 33/1
Poirier by submission: 10/1
UFC 257 CARD
Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier (lightweight)
Dan Hooker vs Michael Chandler (lightweight)
Jessica Eye vs Joanne Calderwood (women’s flyweight)
Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar (lightweight)
Marina Rodriguez vs Amanda Ribas (women’s strawweight)
Arman Tsarukyan vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)
Brad Tavares vs Antonio Carlos Jr (middleweight)
Julianna Pena vs Sara McCann (women’s bantamweight)
Khalil Rountree Jr vs Marcin Prachnio (light heavyweight)
Andrew Sanchez vs Makhmud Muradov (middleweight)
Nik Lentz Movsar Evloev (catchweight)
Amir Albazi vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov (flyweight)
McGREGOR: I WILL HIT HIM EARLY AND HURT HIM
Conor McGregor has doubled down on his prediction that he will knock out Dustin Poirier within 60 seconds during the pair’s rematch in the main event of UFC 257.
When McGregor and Poirier last fought, in 2014, the Irishman predicted a first-round KO of the American. McGregor made good on that promise, finishing Poirier at 1:46 of the first frame in their three-round featherweight bout.
And ahead of their lightweight meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, scheduled as a five-round main event, McGregor said last week: “I like Dustin. I think he’s a good fighter – he’s even a great fighter, you know, but great is still levels below me. I’ll knock Dustin out inside 60 seconds.”
‘Notorious’ also took exception to his opponent’s team suggesting that the Irishman’s conditioning is poor
