Dustin Poirier says Conor McGregor wants to fight him to prepare for fight with Manny Pacquiao, McGregor agrees
It continues to seem more and more likely that there will be a second fight between former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor and former UFC interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier. The two first met back in 2014 while both competing in the featherweight division, which saw McGregor come away with a first-round TKO of Poirier, and now over six years later, it seems as if they are getting ready to run it back, as McGregor is looking to prepare for more than this fight.
During a recent interview with THE FIGHT podcast with Teddy Atlas, Poirier was asked why he believes the fight with McGregor is happening now and he believes that his former foe is using this fight to prepare for a boxing fight against Manny Pacquiao. Poirier told Teddy Atlas that while he’s not sure of McGregor’s intentions, that’s how he believes things are lining up.
.@DustinPoirier speculates on why @TheNotoriousMMA wants him now. 💎
Full story: https://t.co/RV08w6EZqz pic.twitter.com/dO1e5KfuvA
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 13, 2020
“It’s because he’s angling to fight Pacquiao . He wants to fight another southpaw before he fights another southpaw. I don’t know what’s going on, but I think that’s what the alignment is.”
In response to Dustin Poirier’s claim about his sights being set on Pacquiao, McGregor took to social media to agree that that’s where his intentions are and laid out exactly why a fight against Poirier makes sense for him.
“Correct. Southpaw box style. Continue to sharpen my MMA skills with some tough competition, while leading into my Manny bout preparation. It’s not easy going between both sports and then coming back to the one sport just again. Just want to keep sharp guys, that’s all. It’s only fair.”
The potential fight between McGregor and Poirier has faced several twists and turns as McGregor first tried to make the fight as a charity exhibition bout, leaving the UFC out of it, until Dana White announced the UFC had offered the fight to both men.
With Dustin Poirier seeing the roadmap for Conor McGregor’s potential future and McGregor not shying away from it, it’ll be interesting to see if and when this fight comes together for all parties involved. Recently, McGregor told Poirier that he has accepted the UFC’s offer to fight him, but his only stipulation is that the fight happens in 2020 and not 2021, as the promotion has offered.
