By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The stage was set.
One of the highly-anticipated rematches in the history of the UFC finally went down and Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor started to feel each other in the middle of the octagon during the main event of UFC 257 lightweight clash.
It was classic McGregor in the first round as he put on a striking clinic that tagged Poirier several times with his signature jabs and his sweeping right hook.
Poirier tried to apply pressure by taking down McGregor but the Irish warrior seemed to prepare against the takedowns he might receive and displayed brilliant floor defense which negated Poirier’s ground game.
Switching gears, Poirier surprisingly stood up and attempted to engage with McGregor in the stand-up game.
Poirier then shocked everyone as he showed efficient striking but the edge that put him ahead against McGregor was his crisp leg kicks which became the x-factor of the fight.
In the middle of the second round, Poirier became loose and finally found his comfortable striking range against McGregor.
At the 2:45 mark, McGregor confidently engaged in a slugfest against Poirier. That confidence would be McGregor’s downfall in his UFC return.
Poirier closed the show with a technical knockout win that equalized his series with McGregor to 1-1.
The Notorious won their first bout in just under two minutes and still did not confirm if he would like to build up a historic trilogy against Poirier.
