UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

@Erison

Conor McGregor fans think he'll destroy every opponent he faces.

Conor's best performance was against Eddie Alvarez, he looked invincible. That sad thing is all these McGregor fans, I watched Conor fight on Cage Warriors free stream three times. I watched his last fight in CW before he debuted in the UFC.

These guys are the sort of men that idolize him because they want to be him, I just want to see Dustin KO him again so I know the people who support a criminal can cry again. 

@flying_frontkick

I think the worst thing that ever happened to Conor McGregor was his one-punch KO of Jose Aldo, because fans then expected him to do that to everyone he fought.

I'll admit, the guy has a laser guided missile for a left hand, and despite the Poirier TKO, he has a solid chin. I think Conor is his own worst enemy and the people around him and his fans as you've said expected him to just starch people.

When you have an entire country on your back, telling you you're the best, the greatest. Not trying to work on his weaknesses, but instead relying on his left hand. 

I think Conor's gonna come right back in here with his whole mindset focused on checking the leg kicks. And Poirier is just going to use something else. We saw the takedown early in the first. How much energy it cost Conor to hurry back to his feet. If Dustin commits to that and does it 4 more times in the first two rounds, I think Conor will look just as spent as the leg kick fight. 

The thing is he threw everything and the kitchen sink at Poirer, and the excellent boxer that he is people did not realize he was slipping with the punches, to not take as much damage.

Poirier has risen against the best LW competition, while Conor has been sitting on the sidelines. This is an instant rematch, does Conor improve? I don't think he will, watch Dustin and how he shoulder busts McGregor in the rematch.

He has shown to have gotten much better, by facing the toughest competition. He does not regress, he continues. Conor I don't progressing, I see Dustin as winning this but anything can happen. Conor has not been in the wars that Poirier has.

Poirier vs. McGregor III
Dustin Poirier, SUB, R4
Had Dustin by KO in round 4 last time, have him by submission. I did see the leg-kicks being a potential threat last time, but now that it's such a blatant hole, I doubt he hasn't work on fixing that. This time, Conor will panic wrestle when rocked and get caught in that legendary guillotine.

Poirier vs. McGregor III
Dustin Poirier, SUB, R3
Guillotine island boys. I think Dustin will once again eat the shots and survive the first five minutes. After that he will be in a tired Conor's face lighting him up, before Conor shoots and that nasty guillotine cuts his head off. It will be the first beheading to be broadcast live on TV and PPV.

Wow, just looking at this card, It weird how Conor not my most dislike fighter on this card, And funny enough I don't like 4 fighter and them being Greg Hardy, Sean O'Malley, Ryan Hall and Jessica Eye. I don't think they have been a card with so many dislikable fighter on it, Atlest for me

Poirier/McGregor III is a silly fight imo. No reason to believe McGregor will fare much better this time around. I'm fine with the booking, because completing the trilogy makes sense, but still. The idea of McGregor/Poirier II was interesting because years had passed since their first meeting - 6.5 years. And in that time both had improved massively, so it was genuinely an intriguing fight. It will have been five months since their last fight when they meet this time. 

They haven't had to gain half a decades worth of experience leading up to it like they did previously. They will be virtually the same fighters they ere five months ago, and imo we saw that Poirier in his current form is much better than McGregor in his current form. Could McGregor win? Maybe. Doubt it, but maybe. But the intrigue just isn't there for me. 

Thompson vs. Burns is interesting. I think both are borderline overrated, though. Wonderboy is undoubtedly fantastic as a kickboxer among the ranked welterweights, but he's not this "elite" striker that commentary would lead you to believe. And I just can't forget that he was knocked dead by Anthony Pettis three fights ago. He has picked up two solid wins since, so I'll give him credit for that. 

Burns has really subpar striking, he is needlessly reckless, but he's lead people to believe he's a good boxer as of late. I think the caliber of fighters he's excelling against on the feet aren't exactly Wonderboy-level. And Burns has gotten a bit too comfortable striking the past couple years. So he may be in trouble. I hope he tries to use his grappling because Burns is an exceptionally good grappler by MMA standards. And Wonderboy has been notoriously tricky to both get down and hold down. Never been submitted either. 

I think whichever guy wins, it's a pretty big statement to the landscape at welterweight. Wonderboy outstrikes Burns and he does something that few guys have been able to do, doubly so if he gets a finish. If Burns can outwork Thompson for the win he'll do something that only a (near) prime Tyron Woodley and Matt Brown a decade ago could do.

Couldn't care less about O'Malley/Smolka. Sounds good at first glance but it's another gimme for O'Malley imho. Hall/Topuria has potential and I'm fascinated to see how that one plays out - think whoever wins does it inside ten minutes. I am glad to skip another Jessica Eye fight as well. 

Excited to see Du Plessis and Irene Aldana back in there. Two consistently great watches. Wish either of them were put on the main card in place of trash-tier Jessica Eye, but hey.

* Edited at 05.20.2021, 3:44 AM ET *

I really want to believe in the mystique of Ryan Hall. This scrawny unassuming twitchy guy who will dive at an ankle pick and get it every time. Chase Hooper at his highest aspiration. It's more fun when there's weirdos like him out there. Hope he wins.

O'Malley vs. Smolka
Sean O'Malley, TKO, R1
Great fight, I'm not mad about this matchmaking. O'Malley really needed a big step back after his loss against Vera (he handled that very poorly), and the Almeida gift was just a confidence booster over a shell of a fighter. Smolka is very underated, and I feel he could surprise some of us here with his improved striking, and his always dangerous ground game. I still think O'Malley will Ko him, but it should be fun while it lasts. After that tho, another top 15 for him should be in order... How about a rematch vs Vera, or Dom Cruz ?

Aldana vs. Kunitskaya
Yana Kunitskaya, DEC
Tough fight to predict... Flip a coin.

Hall vs. Topuria

Hall by first round heel hook. Tap Tap Topuria.

Amedovski vs. Hu
Yaozong Hu, DEC
***

Are Ryan Hall and Topuria fighting twice on this card?

@KyleH

Make a comment about it on Gregory's profile and he'll fix it.

* Edited at 05.23.2021, 3:54 PM ET *

saw it here, fixed!

Brady vs. Lee
Sean Brady, SUB, R2
I think we will see the same from Kevin Lee: start with the pressure in the first round, burn off energy looking for wrestling and end up choked in the final part of the fight like against Tony Ferguson, RDA and Charles Oliveira. Sean Brady is a great wrestler with underrated KO power when you take into account how he hurt Matthews in the third round of his last fight, as well as his 3 KO wins in less than a minute before fighting in the UFC (2 knockouts in the professionals and 1 in his Amateur debut). I understand that the UFC pushed Kevin Lee so hard since he is still young, he has incredible skills and reach for his height. But for a man who since June 2017 has had an Interim Title Shot (when there were other better positioned fighters that could be scheduled against El Cucuy), 3 Fight Night Main Events, and taking into account his next fight he has been placed 2 times On the PPV main card destined for bestsellers coming off losses, Lee hasn't even lived up to his own expectations. The UFC puts him back in a similar situation to his fight against Gillespie looking for him to get another surprise Knockout and save his career, but I think Brady will manage to dominate him on the ground faster than Dos Anjos.

The reason for his infamous tattoo on the back of his head (the one that went viral on the internet), is that with a Samurai helmet he never taps anymore, but I think that without Kevin Lee needing an ink reminder it would have been better to get a tattoo warrior's heart in the center of the chest. Lee got tired of using his wrestling all the time and quit against RDA he stayed with his head on the ground giving his back as RDA to finish in the Brazilian's favorite lock (Arm-Traingle Choke). Against Iaquinta despite taking him to the ground he did not do anything standing up although Iaquinta did not knock him out and he looked scared and with no idea how to counter attack. Against Tony Ferguson he started dominating with his fight, but when he felt tired and El Cucuy hurt him with those blows from the ground he also gave up going straight into the triangle choke against a strong user of the rubber guard. As I said before, Kevin Lee has athleticism, an incredible reach for his weight class, he has good wrestling (although on the ground his only trick is the rear-naked choke). His problem is not taps, his problem is not knowing how to fight against adversity.
Rather than being considered overrated (mostly taking his near-star position without even being a top 10 currently in his category) he is a fighter who doesn't seem to know his own abilities.

* Edited at 05.24.2021, 12:32 AM ET *

Amedovski vs. Hu
Alen Amedovski, TKO, R1
3 change of weight category for Yaozong Hu and also comes out of a 2-year suspension for Positive Test (Doping Issues), but in reality his career outside the UFC was against very low-level opposition (his first 3 professional fights) and his losses by finish in the UFC against a Rashad Coulter (cut 1-4 in the UFC) and Cyril Asker, who before fighting Hu had only beaten the infamous Dmitry Smolyakov (the same that was Greg Hardy's first victory in the UFC). Alen Amedovski started his career well with a good run on the Bellator cards in Italy, but his run for the UFC has been negative, first a loss by a much more experienced Jotko (in reality the matchup was an attempt to push Amedovski) and then a Knockout defeat against John Phillips who despite not looking very good during his time at the UFC, the Welsh is very dangerous standing up (for example this fight and the Phillips vs. Marshman fight). I think unlike him in his fight against John "White Mike Tyson" Phillips Amedovski should have no problem detonating Yaozong Hu like he did with Fluery and Mané at Bellator. The situation of Chinese MMA in the UFC during 2021 I think it can already be considered worrying for them, so far this year the only triumphs of Chinese fighters have been those of Li Jingliang vs. Ponzinibbio and Su Mudaerji (who did not have it as easy as expected against Adashev).