Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor suffered the first-ever stoppage loss of his MMA career against Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257, which took place at the Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Dustin Poirier knocked out Conor McGregor in the second round to avenge his loss to the Irishmen from their first fight which took place back in 2014 at UFC 178. Back then, McGregor had knocked out Poirier in the first round.
Poirier executed his game plan perfectly and invested in low calf kicks early in the fight and also managed to score a takedown early in the fight. While he also ate a couple of hard shots from McGregor early on, he ultimately the calf kicks caught up to the Irishmen and he got knocked out for the first time in his professional MMA career.
While speaking to the media at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference, Conor McGregor said that the loss was hard to take and that his leg was completely dead by the ferocious leg kicks from Dustin Poirier.
“It’s heartbreaking,” McGregor said. “It’s hard to take. The highest highs and the lowest lows in this game.”
“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.”
Conor McGregor will regroup and come back stronger
Conor McGregor said that he was going to go back and watch the fight to get a better sense of what happened in the main event of UFC 257 and regroup himself.
“It’s the whole shebang, but I have no excuses here. It was a phenomenal performance by Dustin. I don’t know what to say,” McGregor said. “I’m going to go back. I’m going to chill out. I’ll watch the full fight and get a better grasp on it. The leg was compromised. I was rushing the shots a little bit, and I didn’t adjust. That’s that. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. I don’t even know if I’m that upset. I don’t know what to say.”
“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.” (H/T-MMAJunkie.com)
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