3 reasons Conor McGregor will win against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and 2 reasons he won't

Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier's long-standing rivalry is about to reach its conclusion in their trilogy fight at UFC 264 on July 10, 2021, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The rivalry started with their featherweight fight at UFC 178. McGregor won the initial bout in the first round by TKO. Seven years later, they faced each other in a lightweight bout at UFC 257, where a much bigger Poirier avenged his loss with a second-round TKO.

With scores tied at 1-1, both fighters have agreed to settle their feud in a third fight. Fans still have faith in 'Mystic Mac' and continue to weigh the odds in his favor. However, some factors could play against the Irishman.

On that note, let's look at three reasons Conor McGregor will win against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264:

3) McGregor is the better striker from a distance

McGregor makes the most of his reach advantage by throwing his strikes from outside the pocket area. In most of his professional MMA fights, he has scored first or second-round victories over his opponents by stunning them with a well-timed shot from a distance. His opponents usually find themselves on the receiving end of McGregor's strikes because they come from a further range than they're accustomed to.

To further complement his sense of distance, McGregor has a variety of strikes in his arsenal, which he uses depending on the situation. He gauges his opponents' positions and movement patterns to land the correct variation of a strike.

In contrast to this, Dustin Poirier is not good at striking from a distance. Poirier also has a tendency to engage in brawls, which makes him vulnerable to distant counter-attacks if he steps inside the pocket. As much as Poirier was given credit for having landed several calf kicks in his previous fight with McGregor, he is also susceptible to them when he closes the distance to brawl.