Is Conor McGregor Trying To Butt In Front Of Dustin Poirier?

An comment from McGregor after Poirier’s win at UFC 236 makes us think he may still be working on an immediate rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

There was a UFC event on Saturday, and you know what that means: Conor McGregor on Twitter bestowing congrats and well-wishes to winners and losers alike like a benevolent king from on high. UFC 236 was more of the same, but this time McGregor getting in on the action early, pulling more Mystic Mac business with his prediction of Dustin Poirier over Max Holloway.

Afterward he showered the event with (well deserved praise) but included an interesting little comment about Dustin Poirier:

”Congratulations Dustin on a much deserved UFC title to your career,” McGregor wrote. “It is Nate next for you like previously scheduled.”

That’s a bit of an odd thing to say, considering the general understanding is Poirier will go on to unify his interim lightweight title with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s undisputed lightweight title in Abu Dhabi sometime in September. Sure, interim titles have been ignored in the past, but there have always been at least understandable if not always wholly legitimate business reasons for that. What business reason would they have for screwing Dustin Poirier over?

A McGregor vs. Khabib fight, perhaps?

Tucked in-between McGregor’s rah-rah UFC 236 tweets was this other one about his fight with Khabib.

”Having felt it in there, I highly disagree with the ‘best grappler in the UFC’ comment regarding Khabib,” McGregor wrote. “My solely defensive guard was not passed until round 4. I, along with my team, overrated his grappling greatly. The rematch will show all.”

Earlier this week, McGregor made a bit of a bombshell admission, claiming he fought Khabib on a broken foot. Fans had previously noted that something seemed a bit off with it.

All this seems to point towards McGregor continuing to push for an immediate rematch with Khabib now that he’s 100%. And normally we’d say there’s little chance of that, but Conor is one of the few guys with enough leverage and box office appeal to make the UFC do what he wants, when he wants. Add in Khabib Nurmagomedov looking to take another crack at McGregor for calling his wife a towel, and there could be a lot of pressure on the UFC from both camps to make Poirier wait til the end of the year to face Khabib.

That being said, the UFC has gotten better recently at telling McGregor ‘no.’ They told him no on a 165 pound division. They told him no on equity in the company. They even told him no on stupid s**t like headlining above belt holders. And Khabib didn’t hesitate to welcome Poirier as his potential opponent on Twitter. The lid seems to be screwed back on when it comes to the inmates running the asylum.

Part of this comes from the newly gained stability of partnering with ESPN for all US pay-per-view sales. But even without that, it’s clear they want to end the era of fighters pulling power plays on them before it expands like a virus past McGregor into the general roster. Hence shutting down Khabib, Georges, the Diaz brothers, and yes, even Conor now.

For Dustin Poirier’s sake, he better hope that’s the situation. Because as awesome as he’s been in the cage and as important his fight against Khabib would be to us hardcore fans, it doesn’t hold a candle to McGregor vs. Khabib 2 in Abu Dhabi.