Dustin Poirier believes he has Conor McGregor dead in the water past the opening frame.
Poirier and McGregor are set to collide a third time on July 10. The trilogy bout will headline UFC 264 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The score is 1-1 between the two with McGregor scoring the first win back in 2014 and “The Diamond” getting his revenge back in January.
One key factor in Poirier’s victory over the “Notorious” one in their last meeting had to do with calf kicks. McGregor had no answer for the kicks as he wasn’t checking them. Poirier told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that he feels McGregor has no choice but to check his leg kicks this go-around.
“I mean, obviously, he’s gonna try to check calf kicks if I throw them, right?
“Yeah, the martial artist he is and the understanding of fighting he has, I’m sure he can. But I might not even throw calf kicks. I’m expecting him to throw calf kicks, honestly. I’m working on countering calf kicks over here. I’m not even working on landing them.”
Poirier went on to say that if McGregor doesn’t jump on him right away in the trilogy fight, then it’ll be a similar result to their rematch.
“But I think he’s gonna be more aggressive. He’s not gonna let the fight unfold. I think as it unfolded and as I got more comfortable, he realized, ‘Oh, shit, this guy can really fight.’ If I was him, I would try to touch me early and keep me out of rhythm. Because if this thing starts to blossom into a fight: second, third, fourth, we start hurting in there, we start having to grind it out, we start getting a rhythm, I win that fight 10 out of 10 times.”
