Conor McGregor put on arguably his most lackluster performance to-date against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. ‘The Notorious’ came out heavy on his lead leg with little to no movement and ate leg kick after leg kick from Dustin Poirier. The damage from the leg kicks added up and eventually McGregor’s leg was completely compromised, and that eventually led to the finish.
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In the second fight, ‘The Notorious’ utilized leg kicks from the get-go. McGregor threw a multitude of kicks both to the leg and upper body of Dustin Poirier. In a recent podcast with Teddy Atlas, Poirier shared his thoughts on the approach adopted by McGregor and his team in the third fight.
He said, “It’s not a smart gameplan if it [Conor McGregor’s leg] is hurt, you know. Especially where he was kicking, he was kicking not my thigh or my calf muscle, he was kicking at my knee. Every kick was bone on bone…Even with technique, usually you want to set up these kicks, he was throwing them by themselves. Usually, you wanna punch before you kick, just to set it up, just to get him thinking about something else”‘The Diamond’ continued, “Maybe it was in his head that he needed to come out and show me that he can do it too because I tore his leg up in the second fight…I have no clue what him and his coaches were thinking”
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Did Conor McGregor adopt the right game plan at UFC 264?
Compared to UFC 257, McGregor came out of the gates looking a lot better. He was moving a lot better than he did in the second fight and used kicks to keep Poirier at range and back him up against the fence to land the left hand. McGregor did this to good effect in the first few minutes up until he was taken down by ‘The Diamond’.
However, if McGregor and his camp were aware of stress fractures on his leg going into the fight, basing a game around leg kicks seems like an odd decision to make as pointed out by ‘The Diamond’ himself. The kicks thrown by McGregor is what ultimately ended the fight for him.
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What do you make of Conor McGregor’s game plan at UFC 264? Let us know in the comments below!
