Conor McGregor takes umbrage with Dustin Poirier being ranked ahead of him

Conor McGregor has a bone to pick with the people who compile the official UFC rankings, specifically wondering how it’s possible that Dustin Poirier is ahead of him.

McGregor, the former UFC two-division champion, sits at No. 3 in the lightweight division, with former interim champ Poirier No. 2. McGregor’s issue with the UFC rankings is two-fold: First is the fact that McGregor owns a victory over Poirier. Secondly, McGregor performed better against common opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“How is the pea ahead of me in rankings?” McGregor said in a since-deleted tweet Thursday. “I sparked him in 90 seconds. Went further against most recent foe, plus took a round. After two year layoff partying and or in jail/court.”

McGregor’s “the pea” reference is a reference to when he called Poirier “pea head” in the build-up to their featherweight fight on Sept. 27, 2014 at UFC 178. McGregor dominated Poirier that night, finishing him in 1:46 of the first round.

Both McGregor and Poirier have gone on to have successful UFC careers since then, with McGregor becoming the UFC’s first simultaneous champ-champ November 2016 and Poirier claiming interim gold in April 2019.

McGregor’s clash with current champion Nurmagomedov in October 2018 at UFC 229 was his first MMA fight in nearly two years. McGregor was submitted in the fourth round by rear-naked choke. Poirier got his shot against Nurmagomedov in a title unifier but also succumbed to a rear-naked choke in the third round at UFC 242.

Poirier has called for a rematch with McGregor on several occasions but has failed in his bid to secure one. He at least has his attention now.