Firas Zahabi: It Seemed Like Conor McGregor Gave Up Against Dustin Poirier

McGregorFiras Zahabi believes Conor McGregor folded against Dustin Poirier. McGregor suffered a second-round knockout defeat at the hands of Poirier in the UFC 257 headliner this past weekend. In what was one of the most shocking moments in the sport, many observers heaped praise on Poirier for his improvement since the first fight as well […]

McGregor

Firas Zahabi believes Conor McGregor folded against Dustin Poirier.

McGregor suffered a second-round knockout defeat at the hands of Poirier in the UFC 257 headliner this past weekend.

In what was one of the most shocking moments in the sport, many observers heaped praise on Poirier for his improvement since the first fight as well as his overall game plan.

However, Zahabi believes McGregor could have survived the onslaught of Poirier — had he not given up.

“In the second round, when McGregor was getting hit along the fence. I found it strange that he wasn’t — it seemed like he had already gave up on the fight,” Zahabi said on his YouTube channel (via Bloody Elbow). “Before he hit the canvas, I felt like he had given up on the fight, because things were getting tough.

“The fight was getting tough. His left hand didn’t work, and he’s not used to that. He’s not used to hitting guys with the big left, and then (they) keep fighting. McGregor, in the second round, dropped his best card. He landed that perfect left hand, the one he’s relied on his entire career. But for one reason or another, it didn’t work.

“Poirier did not go down, and it seemed that McGregor got emotional about it. He started covering up, he was getting hit, but it didn’t look like he was trying to circle out and survive. He looked like a guy who was like ‘this is the end, I better do something.’ He threw a few punches, but they were like — almost desperate.

“He seemed to get emotional. I looked at his face and he was very very emotional. Whereas if you contrast that with Poirier, when Poirier got hit… he was cool and looking for his next move.”

While Zahabi still believes McGregor is superior to Poirier in a number of areas, the Irishman ultimately lacks the heart of the latter. That means he is unable to weather storms like Poirier.

“I gave McGregor so many pluses,” Zahabi added. “I told you guys he’s a better boxer, he’s a better counterpuncher, he has better reach, and he’s faced Mayweather in boxing. He has so many advantages, but one thing I said, Poirier has the biggest heart. You can’t deny that.

“We saw the will to win overcome skill and technique. McGregor has beautiful skill and technique, punching mechanics. Even towards to the end, his head movement was excellent. In my opinion, he’s not used to weathering storms. All the hard fights Poirier had, they all led him to this win last weekend. All those hard fights, those blood and guts fights he’s had, they’ve toughened him up mentally. The barrage of punches he was taking would’ve put a lesser seasoned fighter out.

“If you look at McGregor. The punches he took at the end of the fight, that would not have put Poirier out. If you disagree, please look at the Poirier-Hooker fight. You can see that what happened to McGregor at the end of the fight, was happening all for 15 minutes between Poirier and Dan Hooker. When McGregor gets into a heated battle, it seems like he folds. It seems like he will fold faster than Poirier by far.”

Do you agree with Zahabi?

Rankings Update – Poirier Moves To #1, McGregor Drops From Top-Five, Chandler Debuts At #4

PoirierFollowing last weekend’s flagship pay-per-view event return for the organization — UFC 257 brought with it a rather significant shuffle among the lightweight top-five rankings.  Featuring two high-profile 155-pound pairings, former three-time Bellator lightweight best, ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler made his long-awaited promotional bow as he clashed with Kiwi striker, Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker in a […]

Poirier

Following last weekend’s flagship pay-per-view event return for the organization — UFC 257 brought with it a rather significant shuffle among the lightweight top-five rankings. 

Featuring two high-profile 155-pound pairings, former three-time Bellator lightweight best, ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler made his long-awaited promotional bow as he clashed with Kiwi striker, Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker in a co-main event slot. 

Taking major focus in a headlining tilt, a lightweight rematch six-years in the making, former featherweight rivals, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier and ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor closed the curtain on the promotion’s pay-per-view debut for 2021. 

Debuting at #4 in the promotion’s official rankings as per Canadian outlet, TSN, Missouri native Chandler made a massive statement in his promotional bow, becoming just the second competitor in mixed martial arts history to stop Hooker with strikers.

Circling the Auckland native onto a fierce right hand for the opening couple of minutes, Chandler eventually sprung with his straight shot, dropping Hooker before swarming with a series of ground strikes. Calling for current undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov and event headliners, Poirier and McGregor afterwards in a Ric Flair-esque promo, Chandler lands a #4, while Hooker, suffering his second straight loss drops to #8 from his #6 rank.

Dropping out of the lightweight top-five via his first career loss via strikes, former two-weight world champion, McGregor loses his #4 rank to Chandler, assuming the #6 rank at 155-pounds, below former interim champion, Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson.
Exacting a masterful gameplan to draw his duo of fights with McGregor to one win apiece, Poirier targeted the Dubliner’s southpaw lead with a series of punishing calf kicks, rendering him largely immobile in the second-round before stopping the Crumlin native with a damaging combination at the fence

With the victory, Poirier leaps above recent interim champion and one-time foe, Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje into the #1 rank at lightweight — primed for a title shot in his next Octagon outing, interim, vacant or otherwise. 

Retaining his #3 rank at 155-pounds despite the shuffle, surging Sao Paulo submission specialist, Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira is himself poised to throw his name into a vacant title discussion alongside Poirier, after UFC president, Dana White announced that things aren’t necessarily looking upwards for fans clamouring for a retirement snapping return of Nurmagomedov

McGregor’s drop to the #6 rank marks the first time he’s featured outside the promotion’s top-five rankings since his initial UFC 178 victory over Poirier back in September of 2014, before he went on to stop Dennis Siver, and then Chad Mendes in an interim title clash, before a thirteen-second unification title win over Jose Aldo.

Despite the promotion’s floated idea of a title matchup between Poirier and Chandler, the former wants to see the latter establish a body of work at 155-pounds before entertaining a title clash with him. For Team McGregor, they hope to secure a vacant title rubber-match against Poirier as soon as May to round out their now level on score trilogy, while Poirier has already called to be crowned the undisputed lightweight champion following his win

McGregor Considers Using Grappling-Based Strategy In Poirier Trilogy

Conor McGregor believes there was an unfamiliar path to victory he could have taken to defeat Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. The UFC 257 main event saw Dustin Poirier pick up the TKO victory over Conor McGregor in the second round. It was a competitive fir…

Conor McGregor believes there was an unfamiliar path to victory he could have taken to defeat Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. The UFC 257 main event saw Dustin Poirier pick up the TKO victory over Conor McGregor in the second round. It was a competitive first round, but McGregor seemed to have the slight edge […]

Georges St-Pierre Backs McGregor To Bounce Back From Poirier Defeat

Georges St-PierreGeorges St-Pierre has backed former dual weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor, to bounce back from his second-round TKO loss against Dustin Poirier. ‘The Diamond’ emphatically avenged his 2014 loss to McGregor at UFC 257 this past weekend. Poirier used wrestling, calf kicks and fast hands to quickly secure the upset win. McGregor immediately pointed to […]

Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre has backed former dual weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor, to bounce back from his second-round TKO loss against Dustin Poirier.

‘The Diamond’ emphatically avenged his 2014 loss to McGregor at UFC 257 this past weekend. Poirier used wrestling, calf kicks and fast hands to quickly secure the upset win.

McGregor immediately pointed to inactivity as the reason for his defeat. On Monday his coach, John Kavanagh revealed the Irishman is already pestering the UFC for a rematch.

In an interview with Michael Bisping on the Believe You Me Podcast, St-Pierre revealed he was backing McGregor ahead of UFC 257 and admitted he was surprised by Poirier’s impressive performance.

“I thought Conor (McGregor) was going to win and I was wrong,” St-Pierre said. “I was very surprised how Poirier keep his composure under the pressure because I think one of Conor’s strengths is that he overwhelms his opponents with his pressure, with his presence.

“Poirier stayed sharp. It was a real testament of how good he is,” GSP continued. “It was amazing and now it will be interesting to see how Conor can come back from it. I believe Conor can come back from that loss. He is the kind of fighter I believe, he fuel himself on confidence. When he is confident that’s how he performs at his best. He likes to act confident. Fake it until you make it and he plays a role that he is very confident.

St-Pierre believes McGregor will bounce back from this latest defeat.

“It will be interesting to see how he’s gonna come back from it but I believe in Conor. I believe he is gonna come back from that,” St-Pierre added. I believe he is going to overcome that obstacle.”

Do you agree with Georges St-Pierre? Will Conor McGregor bounce back from his loss to Dustin Poirier?

Michael Chandler Believes He Finishes Dustin Poirier Inside Two Rounds

Michael Chandler has told anyone who would listen he is the best lightweight alive and is ready to prove it. In the co-main event of UFC 257, Chandler scored a first-round TKO win over Dan Hooker to cement his case as a top-five lightweight. After the …

Michael Chandler has told anyone who would listen he is the best lightweight alive and is ready to prove it. In the co-main event of UFC 257, Chandler scored a first-round TKO win over Dan Hooker to cement his case as a top-five lightweight. After the win, the three-time Bellator lightweight champion called out the […]

REPORT | Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor II Sold 1.6 Million PPV Buys

McGregorAccording to reports, Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon at UFC 257 was the second-most bought pay-per-view in company history with 1.6 million buys, putting it second to UFC 229 when Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his Lightweight title against Conor McGregor. John Ourand of SBJ reported the PPV numbers last night. This success of the event […]

McGregor

According to reports, Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon at UFC 257 was the second-most bought pay-per-view in company history with 1.6 million buys, putting it second to UFC 229 when Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his Lightweight title against Conor McGregor. John Ourand of SBJ reported the PPV numbers last night.

This success of the event comes at no surprise as UFC President Dana White, predicted before the event that the numbers for UFC 257 were looking good, “This thing is trending great,” White told reporters at today’s UFC 257 press conference. “Yeah, it’s good, it’s gonna be good. When was there a bad one since the pandemic started? There hasn’t been a bad pay-per-view, they’ve all been over-performing, so you can only imagine what this is gonna do.” (Transcribed by BJPenn.com)

In the post fight press conference, White said that he expected this pay-per-view to be top 2 of all time and he wasn’t wrong, “it was a good night. It was a really good night. Top two all time.”

This proves that McGregor is still the UFC’s biggest star and after UFC 257 he now holds 4 of the top 5 selling PPV’s off all time in the UFC with the fifth being UFC 100 which was headlined by Lesnar vs Mir 2.

Did you think Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor II would be so succesful?