John Kavanagh shares the moment that he and Dustin Poirier made eye contact during UFC 257 fight
John Kavanagh has shared the moment that he and Dustin Poirier made eye contact during Poirier’s UFC 257 fight against Conor McGregor. Kavanagh revealed that McGregor landed a good knee to Dustin Poirier’s body, after which he and Poirier made eye contact with each other.
The first fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor took place at UFC 178 in September 2014. The bout was contested at featherweight and witnessed McGregor beat Poirier via first-round TKO. Fast-forward to January 23rd, 2021, and the UFC 257 headlining matchup featured Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor facing one another in a lightweight bout. Poirier ended up defeating McGregor via second-round TKO.
However, the UFC 257 matchup between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor did see McGregor trouble Poirier with his excellent pugilism, clinch work, shoulder strikes, elbows, and knees, particularly in round one. Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Ariel Helwani, Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh addressed a knee strike that hurt Poirier and the moment of eye contact that followed:
“There was actually a very funny moment – I don’t think the camera angle caught us – where when they were grappling on the fence, standing, Conor hit him (Poirier) with a knee in the stomach, in the belly. And he looked, he caught my eye, and he went, ‘Ooh!’” John Kavanagh noted, laughing as he recalled the interesting moment. “So, he acknowledged it was a good shot.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
It was after the knee Conor McGregor landed to Dustin Poirier’s stomach, that Poirier winced and ended up making eye contact with John Kavanagh who was in McGregor’s corner octagon-side at UFC 257.
A Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier trilogy fight could come to fruition down the line
The Notorious One and The Diamond are presently 1-1 in their series of fights, with a trilogy bout expected to occur in the future. Conor McGregor and John Kavanagh have asserted that they’d love to face Dustin Poirier for the third time.
Alternatively, UFC president Dana White has suggested that Dustin Poirier’s next fight could be for the vacant UFC lightweight title against Michael Chandler. The consensus is that Poirier might face either Chandler or Charles Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight title.
The current UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, retired from the sport of MMA in October 2020. Nurmagomedov is likely to vacate the UFC lightweight title sooner rather than later, or the UFC could end up stripping him of the title.