5 surprises we can expect Conor McGregor to spring on Dustin Poirier at UFC 264
Conor McGregor will face a must-win situation when he returns to action against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Suffering back-to-back losses to Poirier would all but guarantee that the Irishman crashes out of the title picture, given how loaded the lightweight division is.
To add to that, despite being a former lightweight champion, Conor McGregor's record at 155lbs is currently 1-2. He became the lightweight champion at UFC 205 by beating Eddie Alvarez without facing any ranked contenders in the division before the fight.
Conor McGregor went 5-0 in the featherweight division, then beat Chad Mendes for the interim title and successfully unified the belts by beating Jose Aldo at UFC 193. He was scheduled to fight then-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos for the 155lbs strap, but RDA was forced out of the bout due to an injury.
'Notorious' ended up fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and suffered his first loss in the promotion. The two engaged in a rematch at UFC 202, which the Irishman won via majority decision. By this time, Eddie Alvarez was king of the lightweights.
Conor McGregor became the first champ-champ in UFC history. However, he failed to defend either of his belts as he pursued "The Money Fight" against Floyd Mayweather. 'Notorious' was subsequently stripped of both his UFC belts.
Since then, Conor McGregor has had two outings at lightweight. The first was against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, which the Irishman lost via submission. His next lightweight outing came in January 2021 at UFC 257 in a rematch against Dustin Poirier. 'The Diamond' became the first person to hand Conor McGregor a TKO loss.
Effectively, the Irishman's only victory at 155lbs came in 2016.
But how did McGregor find himself in such a precarious situation in the first place? It's simple. Poirier did his homework and implemented a game plan that caught McGregor by utter surprise.
In the past, though, 'Notorious' has proven to have the ability to bounce back from losses by pulling out some new tricks from his bag.
Here are five surprises fans can expect from Conor McGregor against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264:
#5 Conor McGregor could use more elbows
Conor McGregor displayed his well-rounded striking arsenal during his win against Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone at UFC 246. The Irishman unleashed some unorthodox shoulder strikes, a head kick, a flying knee, and a combination of punches to put his opponent away.
But against Poirier, McGregor relied heavily on his counterpunching and looked more like a boxer than a mixed martial artist. A telling comment McGregor made on social media, however, revealed that might bring back some weapons he hasn't been using of late.
'Notorious' shared a picture of himself biking outdoors, which showed a small bruise mark on his left elbow. Concerned fans asked if he had a staph infection, and in response, McGregor said:
"No. Just vicious brain damaging elbows."
Utilizing more elbow strikes at UFC 264 is not a bad idea, given that McGregor hurt Poirier with a brutal elbow to the head as he broke off the clinch. In addition, diversifying his offense would allow McGregor to silence his critics who believe that the left hand is his only weapon.