Conor McGregor still doesn’t believe he suffered a genuine defeat in his third fight with Dustin Poirier.
‘Notorious’ famously knocked out Poirier in 106 seconds when they first met as young featherweight contenders at UFC 178 in September 2014.
McGregor’s rivalry with Poirier has spanned 10 yearsCredit: Getty Images – Getty
In January 2021, ‘The Diamond’ got revenge when he scored a second-round KO win over McGregor and derailed a boxing crossover with Manny Pacquiao.
A dispute about an unpaid charity pledge led to a bitter build-up to a tiebreaker trilogy fight that ended in inconclusive circumstances in July 2021.
McGregor was beaten up for the majority of round one of the UFC 264 main event before breaking his leg and leaving his third Poirier fight with another loss on his record.
In the immediate aftermath, the former dual-weight champion insisted he had unfinished business with Poirier and claimed his latest defeat was not legitimate.
Almost three years later, he is still looking to settle his beef with Poirier.
The American recently picked up an impressive KO win over streaking lightweight contender Beniot Saint-Denis before receiving a surprisingly wholesome message from McGregor.
In an exclusive interview with talkSPORT, the UFC legend discussed Poirier’s big victory and talked up the possibility of the pair meeting in a fourth MMA fight.
“It was good to see Poirier get the win,” McGregor told Adam Catterall.
Poirier is the only man who has KO’d McGregor in MMACredit: Getty Images – Getty
‘Notorious’ broke his leg in their third and refuses to accept it as a lossCredit: Getty
“That makes this the quadrilogy – the real trilogy – to put a finish to it.
“That is a huge bout right now. I anticipated the result would go that way and I was happy to see it. That’s a big one for sure.”
McGregor would also like a third fight with Nate Diaz and admits he was disappointed when UFC CEO Dana White recently shot down the matchup.
Ultimately, he expects to return against Michael Chandler, whom he has been booked to face since February 2023 – but they still don’t have an official date.
McGregor added: “Chandler, of course. I would assume that would be the first one.
“The opponent doesn’t matter. I just wish for a nice run-up, a bit of transparency and let me go for it again.”