Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier has revealed that he believes he will finish Conor McGregor, when the two 155lb elites clash on July 10th.
In a recent interview with ESPN MMA’s Ariel Helwani, Dustin Poirier sat down to discuss his upcoming trilogy bout with Conor McGregor. The two men fought for the second time in January 2021, with Dustin Poirier picking up the shock TKO victory.
Another Stoppage
He now believes he will be able to replicate the finish when they face off a third time. Poirier stated the following:
“I’m gonna stop Conor (McGregor) again — July 10th. I’m gonna get my hand raised, and I’m gonna finish Conor McGregor again.”
One of the key aspects of being able to finish opponents, underdog or not, is preparation. He had the following the say about how he will prepare for the trilogy fight:
“As my career has progressed, I’ve spent less time over-thinking fight footage. But I definitely still watch a good bit and see tendencies, reactions to certain things. The way guys change levels to defend takedowns. The way guys throw counter shots, that Conor’s very very dangerous at.”
“The first three or four weeks of this training camp is gonna be getting my timing together, getting my strength and conditioning base underneath me, sharpening up my boxing, my kickboxing, my jiu-jitsu, my wrestling. Just putting everything together. And then 5 weeks out from the fight I’ll start sparring.”
Charity Controversy?
One of the major headlines surrounding their second fight was the fact that McGregor would be donating a huge amount of money to Poirier’s charity, helping children in Louisiana. However, McGregor has since made a donation to a different charity than Poirier’s. Whilst many see this as an attempt by McGregor to antagonize Porier, ‘The Diamond’ could not be happier. He stated that:
“That’s so incredible, man, because at the end of the day, helping the community, helping people in need, was the mission and goal from the jump,” Poirier said. “From when I used to auction eBay stuff before I had the foundation, whenever we used to do small things in the community. It’s always been the goal, at the end of the day, charity wins. Mission accomplished. I see a lot of people that wanna attach negativity and say that was a slap in the face or this and that stuff when it comes to the donation. Conor didn’t donate it to my charity, but it’s not my money; it’s the people’s money. it wasn’t a slap in the face, it was a high five, because the people in the community are gonna win.”