Conor McGregor brought his unmatched star power to the Octagon on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi, fighting for the first time in a full year, and his rust showed, as American Dustin Poirer made up for a loss earlier in his career to McGregor by winning with a TKO at 2:32 of the second round. ”We’re 1-1,” said Poirier, from Lafayette, Louisiana. “Maybe we have to do it again.”
Poirer relentlessly attacked McGregor’s right leg with kicks to the calf the entire fight, and it eventually affected McGregor to the point that he was susceptible to a combination of punches that Poirer unleaded, dropping McGregor with a shovel hand, than pouncing on the Irishman before referee Herb Dean put an end to the carnage.
It was the first TKO or KO of McGregor’s 13-year career, stunning his partisan crowd of supporters who hoped to watch what would be the first in a series of fights that would return championship belts to McGregor. “That low calf kick was very good,” McGregor said. “That leg was dead, man. … Dustin is some fighter. I have to dust it off and come back. And what’s what I will do,” McGregor said in the right following the flight.
This was the first UFC fight with fans in the stands since March of last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Poirer is now 11-2 since his 2014 loss to McGregor, and is without question the class of the lightweight division.
The loss drops McGregor’s UFC record to 10-2.
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