Watch the first contest in this storied rivalry.
UFC 178 went down on July 10, 2014. The stacked card was headlined by Demetrious Johnson defending his flyweight crown versus Chris Cariaso and the co-main saw Donald Cerrone throw down with Eddie Alvarez.
Before those marque match-ups a certain WEC vet met with a brash rising star from the Emerald Isle.
Heading into his featherweight clash with McGregor, Poirier had already gotten 10 Octagon appearances under his belt. He’d won all but two of them, notching wins over Erik Koch, Johnathan Brookins and Akira Corassani.
McGregor came to the bout 3-0 in the UFC with wins over Marcus Brimage, Max Holloway and Diego Brandao. Around each of those wins McGregor showed he was destined for the spotlight, filling ever second of mic time with florid trash talk and shameless self-promotion.
The lead-up to the fight was a spicy one, with McGregor riling Poirier up whenever he got the chance. When the opening bell finally wrung, everyone was expecting fireworks. And that’s what we got.
You can check out the entire fight below:
After this win McGregor would go on to beat Dennis Siver, Chad Mendes and then Jose Aldo to win the UFC featherweight title. Since then, it’s been a wild, unusual and controversial ride.
For Poirier he spent years toiling in the background of the UFC before eventually reaching the near pinnacle of the sport, coming just shy of the UFC lightweight title in a loss to 155 lb GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In January Poirier avenged his loss to McGregor, knocking the Irishman out in the second round.
Their third fight happens next Saturday in the main event of UFC 264.