Much has been made about Conor McGregor’s broken pinky toe and subsequent removal from UFC 303 last month, but the overall consensus is that “Notorious” probably shouldn’t have pulled out of his long-awaited return for the type of injury he had suffered.
Most of the MMA community believes McGregor could have fought through the ailment to keep his UFC 303 main event against Michael Chandler intact. After all, UFC did a ton of planning and promotion for McGregor’s return and even had a $20 million gate to hang their hat on. Unfortunately, McGregor’s withdrawal spoiled all those plans and forced the promotion to revamped UFC 303’s main card from top to bottom.
Dustin Poirier, who is one of McGregor’s biggest rivals after competing three times inside of the Octagon, is part of the majority that doesn’t understand how a toe injury would have prevented McGregor from returning to action. “Diamond” admits that he doesn’t know the specifics of McGregor’s injury and how severe the break was, but he isn’t convinced it was a big enough deal.
“A pinky toe? I fought with so much injuries,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “Like Conor said, he’s fought with so many injuries, I fought with so many injuries over the years, but a pinky toe doesn’t seem like a reason to pull out of a fight. Giving him his respect, I also don’t know the severity of it.”
McGregor still plans to recover in time to compete in 2024, but his recent injury threw everything and everyone for a loop. That’s probably because McGregor has never pulled out of a UFC fighter before. Despite his sporadic layoffs from competition, he’s one of the most reliable fighters once the dotted line is signed.
As far as his rivalry with McGregor goes, Poirier believes “Notorious” is always trying to push the envelope and make him engage in some social media banter. “Diamond” would like to fire back and have his voice heard, but in most cases it isn’t worth it.
“He crossed lines you can’t come back from,” Poirier said. “I want to whip his ass (when I see the Tweets). He’s trying to bring that out of me. He wants me to fire back. I’m just like, ‘Nah.’ Of course I want to say something back and try to set up a fight with him, but it is what it is. We have a lot of back-and-forth over the years, since 2014.”