Despite his first knockout loss in the UFC, Conor McGregor was defeated in class.
McGregor returned to action for the first time in a year when he faced Dustin Poirier in a rematch in the UFC 257 main event on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. After a competitive first round, Poirier started to take over in the second, hitting a series of hard kicks with a low leg at McGregor that put him in a compromised position.
“The Diamond” would take advantage of his brilliant strategy, dropping and submitting McGregor in the middle of the round to complete the biggest win of his career.
While everything was in the octagon and at the post-fight press conference, Poirier and McGregor shared a moment behind the scenes after their second battle.
Poirier equaled the series with a win for each on Saturday. McGregor knocked out Poirier in the first round of his first showdown at UFC 178 in September 2014.
The fight in trilogy is of interest to both contestants, but it seems that Poirier will move on to dispute the lightweight title, which is currently owned by retired Khabib Nurmagomedov. UFC president Dana White has not lost hope that “The Eagle” will return for at least one more fight. It seems that those chances are disappearing by the hour, although an official decision on the title has yet to be announced.