Conor McGregor “gutted” by UFC 257 knockout loss to Dustin Poirier
Conor McGregor returned to the octagon on Saturday night at UFC 257 in hopes of defeating Dustin Poirier and going on to compete for the lightweight championship. Instead he suffered the first knockout loss of his career in the second round his main event fight.
Following the loss while still inside the octagon, McGregor said he was “gutted” by the loss in his post-fight interview.
After leaving the octagon, McGregor went back to his locker room, took a shower, put on a great suit, and got a single crutch to hopple out to his post-fight press conference where he answered questions from reporters for 20 minutes.
While McGregor took the loss well, he still wasn’t afraid to tell everyone how he really felt.
“It’s heart breaking,” McGregor said in his post-fight press conference. “It’s hard to take. The highest highs and the lowest lows in this game.”
McGregor (22-5) didn’t take anything away from Poirier (27-6) and his performance saying that he didn’t have an answer for the calf kicks that Poirier landed throughout their fight.
“My leg is completely dead,” McGregor said. “Even though I felt like I was checking them, it was just sinking into the muscle in the front of the leg, and it was badly compromised. It was like an American football in my suit at the minute, so it is what it is.”
As for the future of the UFC’s biggest star, it appears McGregor plans on fighting again.
“I’ll certainly regroup,” McGregor said. “I’ll regroup. I’ll pick myself off the floor and go again. That’s it. Styles make fights. There’s many great stylistic fights out there. Myself and Dustin are one-and-one. Myself and Nate are one-and-one. There are many good matchups for me. I’ll adopt a different approach for the trilogy. … I have a lot more weapons I didn’t get to show. It wasn’t my night. It wasn’t a great night. Again, no excuses. Hats off. (I’ll) regroup and pick myself up. I look forward to going back now and seeing the kids and just taking the licks.”
Conor McGregor did say he needs more minutes in the octagon and he hopes to do that this year. UFC 257 marked McGregor’s first fight in over a year and his his third fight since 2018.
