Dustin Poirier has played detective for why Conor McGregor is suddenly interested in having a rematch against him, and McGregor has backed his conclusions.
Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor have verbally agreed to fight at some point in the near future. All they both men appear to be waiting on is a date in 2020 set by the UFC. McGregor’s timing in agreeing to fight Poirier was interesting, though, given that he had previously said he would be boxing Manny Pacquiao next. Poirier does not consider McGregor’s sudden interest in fighting him to be coincidental and, in fact, believes that his potential fight against Manny Pacquiao has everything to do with it.
“Going back to why I think he wants this fight, it’s because he’s angling to fight Pacquiao. That was in the news,” Poirier said on “THE FIGHT” with Teddy Atlas. “So I don’t know if the UFC wants him to fight one more time before they allow him to fight Pacquiao or if he just wants to get one more this year before starting next year with the Pacquiao fight, but what better way to do it against another southpaw?
“I think that might be his mind set. He wants to fight another southpaw before he fights another southpaw. I don’t know what’s going on, but I think that’s what the alignment is.”
Conor McGregor read Poirier’s theory and had no problem taking to Twitter to corroborate it:
“Correct. Southpaw box style. Continue to sharpen my MMA skills with some tough competition, while leading into my Manny bout preparation. It’s not easy going between both sports and then coming back to the one sport again. Just want to keep sharp guys, that’s all. It’s only fair,” McGregor wrote.
Poirier also believes that UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov also has a hand in McGregor agreeing to rematch Poirier. Months ago, Nurmagomedov stated that in order for Conor McGregor to receive a rematch against him, McGregor would need to defeat Poirier. So between this stipulation and the desire to get some live ring time against another southpaw with a boxing-heavy MMA style, Poirier believes that the fight made total sense for McGregor to lobby for.
Do you think a fight against Dustin Poirier is the best possible fight for Conor McGregor to take right now?
