For nearly the past four years, keeping an active fight schedule hasn’t been in the cards for Conor McGregor.
McGregor, 32, reached the pinnacle of his MMA career Nov. 12, 2016 when, at UFC 205, the then-featherweight champion knocked out Eddie Alvarez to claim the lightweight title and become the promotion’s first simultaneous two-division champ. In the time since, McGregor has fought three times – including a boxing match he lost to Floyd Mayweather – while being occupied with a litany of arrests and legal troubles, as well as running his Proper No. Twelve whiskey business.
Prior to his January win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, McGregor spoke of wanting to have a 2020 “season,” complete with four fights this calendar year. Things didn’t pan out because of the coronavirus pandemic, but on Thursday, McGregor signed a bout agreement to make his return against Dustin Poirier in the UFC 257 main event Jan. 23.
By the time he steps into the octagon, McGregor will have been off for 371 days. Before that, it was 469 days between losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 and his 40-second finish of Cerrone.
All this is to say questions about how McGregor will perform after another long layoff would be understandable.
“Conor is always dangerous,” UFC president Dana White said during an appearance on “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Radio. “From what I’ve seen of him on social media, it looks like he’s in great shape, looks like he’s training hard. Even before this, he was training to do some type of charity bike event. So the guy’s in great shape.”
McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) had his way with an aging Cerrone, but how will McGregor fare in a rematch with Poirier (26-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) in his prime? The two first fought in September 2014 as featherweights, with McGregor winning by first-round knockout at UFC 178. Certainly, results suggest that both are better fighters now, but who has improved more? Poirier, 31, clearly has more experience.
Since UFC 178, Poirier has made 13 UFC appearances to McGregor’s eight. The lack of activity comes into clearer view in recent years, with Poirier making eight octagon appearances since 2017 while McGregor’s sat mostly on the sidelines. Poirier’s evolution led to an eventual interim 155-pound championship win over Max Holloway in April 2019.
White suggested Poirier is a more dangerous opponent for McGregor this time around.
“Poirier’s wanted this fight for so long now, the rematch with Conor,” White said. “He’s a much better fighter than he was the first time they fought.”
Good enough to win and get some revenge? UFC 257 will provide the answer.
Dana White says Conor McGregor is ‘always dangerous.’ How will long layoff affect UFC 257 return?
