T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. USA.
At UFC 264, in the main event of the evening, American fighter Dustin Poirier (No. 1 official challenger ranking) will face Irishman Conor McGregor (No. 5). The bout will take place in the lightweight division.
The fighters have already met twice and the score is 1:1. In 2014 the winner was TKO in the first round, but in January 2021 Dustin Poirier took his revenge and won by TKO in round two.
Dustin Poirier: “I need a brutal war - blood and guts”.
Poirier has only lost one fight in the last five years, to Khabib Nurmagomedov, and it must be said that of all of Khabib’s recent opponents, he was the closest to victory. Dustin has fought exclusively with the elite over the years and has won four of his seven victories early.
In January’s bout, Dustin Poirier was going underdog but managed to surprise McGregor with some unexpected locks. In the first round, he kicked the Irishman’s legs to the point where he lost speed and was finished in the second.
I expect to face a better version of McGregor. I expect him to be more focused than ever. Everything is really on the line for him. Conor will come out fighting, not for money, but pride and respect. To prove that he’s still an important part of this division. And that makes him a dangerous man. A man who will fight for himself and to prove something. He won’t fight for anything else. He doesn’t need that anymore. So I know he will be motivated. Conor will go into this fight to get his name back to where it used to be.
Conor McGregor: Everything is at stake
McGregor believed too much in his exclusivity and was destroyed by Dustin last fight. Before the fight he had been doing all sorts of things and wasn’t focused enough on training, relying on past skills. Now it is not going to be like this, losing for the second time to the same man, it will be an incredibly hard blow to the Irishman’s ego, he does not want that, so he is preparing properly.
Before his third fight with Poirier, McGregor has once again gone to conflict and maximized interest in the fight. He’s cornered himself and now he has nowhere to retreat, but the most important thing is that he seems to be mentally the same. For Conor, it’s very important to be angry and motivated.
I’m going to give him a good kick to the head. There will be an extensive arsenal used this evening, you can be sure of that. Does he want mixed martial arts? He’ll get it. He’s been talking a lot lately, and he’s going to pay for everything! Nothing good awaits him. All this time I’ve been busy working. Full focus, full immersion in MMA. I went back to my roots. I haven’t done anything but mixed martial arts, so I’m ready to go out there and put on a show.
Expert Betting Tips
Some bookmakers do not see a favourite in this fight and rightly so. The only thing they are sure of is that the fight will end early.
But we don’t agree with them. The fighters will try to avoid mistakes, it will take some time to unravel what the opponent has prepared, so I choose to bet Total Over 2.5 for 2.28.
Other predictions
