{"id":26240,"date":"2021-01-24T08:09:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T09:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=26240"},"modified":"2021-01-24T10:04:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T10:04:21","slug":"mcgregor-knocked-out-by-poirier-in-stunning-ufc-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=26240","title":{"rendered":"McGregor knocked out by Poirier in stunning UFC upset"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abu Dhabi:\u00a0American underdog Dustin Poirier shook up the world of mixed martial arts Sunday, beating up the legs of Irish superstar\u00a0Conor\u00a0McGregor\u00a0before knocking him out at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’m happy but I’m not surprised. I put in the work,” Poirier after the referee stepped in after 2min 32sec of the second round to save\u00a0McGregor\u00a0from further damage after he was dropped by a fierce combination of punches.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Poirier was ranked second in the flyweight division going into the fight, but still rated a heavy underdog by bookmakers to beat his fourth-ranked opponent, arguably the most famous fighter the sport has seen.<\/p>\n

The controversial\u00a0McGregor, known as “Notorious”, was returning to the octagon for the first time in a year and hoping for a repeat of the pair’s first contest in 2014 which he won by TKO after just 109 seconds.<\/p>\n

But Poirier, who now has a UFC record of 27-6, used low calf kicks in an effort to put\u00a0McGregor\u00a0(22-5) off his usual ferocious stand-up game -\u2013 and it worked.<\/p>\n

“First off I want to say\u00a0Conor\u00a0took this result professionally. We’re 1-1 and maybe we’re going to have to do it again,” said Poirier, hinting at the prospect of a trilogy fight.<\/p>\n

“I’m happy with the place I am in. I’m happy with the face I see in the mirror.<\/p>\n

“The goal was to be technical and to pick my shots, not brawl at all. I had him hurt and I went a little crazy.”<\/p>\n

McGregor\u00a0likes to call himself “Mystic Mac” and had spent the week leading into the fight predicting he would end it inside 60 seconds.<\/p>\n

But it was a different Poirier to the one who had looked overmatched when the pair previously met at\u00a0UFC 178 at the lighter featherweight.<\/p>\n

– ‘I’m gutted’ –<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Poirier worked the legs and took\u00a0McGregor\u00a0down into a grapple for much of the first round — avoiding a boxing face-off against a man who once shared the ring with Floyd Mayweather and had touted a future fight against Manny Pacquiao.<\/p>\n

Poirier then found his range in the second, weakening\u00a0McGregor’s base with more calf kicks before exploding for the shock finish.<\/p>\n

He staggered\u00a0McGregor\u00a0with a big overhand left and then dropped him to the canvas with a straight right flush on the Irishman’s nose before referee Herb Dean waved it off.<\/p>\n

“The low calf kick was very good but Dustin is some fighter,” said\u00a0McGregor.<\/p>\n

“I’ll dust it off and come back because that’s what I’ll do. I’ll take my licks.<\/p>\n

“I’m gutted, it’s a tough one to swallow. I just want to go back to the hotel and chill with my kids and regroup.”<\/p>\n

The second-ranked\u00a0Poirier\u00a0is now in prime position to either inherit or fight for the UFC’s lightweight belt, most recently held by the now-retired unbeaten Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov.<\/p>\n

“I felt like this was the title fight. If Khabib’s not coming back then I’m the champion,” said Poirier.<\/p>\n

The fight was held inside the new Etihad Arena on the “Fight Island” bio-secure sporting hub of Yas Island that the Abu Dhabi government established last July.<\/p>\n

The three UFC events staged over the past week have been the first to allow fans to sit cageside, with around 2,000 in attendance for the main event.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Dominant Khabib calls time on undefeated MMA career<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abu Dhabi:\u00a0American underdog Dustin Poirier shook up the world of mixed martial arts Sunday, beating up the legs of Irish superstar\u00a0Conor\u00a0McGregor\u00a0before knocking him out at […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26242,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26240\/revisions\/26242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}