After picking up a win in front of his countrymen, Conor McGregor has no shortage of options for his next fight in the UFC.
That's due in large part to the brash comments McGregor has made on a regular basis since joining the UFC's ranks. One man who wouldn't mind "whipping his a--" is Dustin Poirier. Matt Erickson of MMA Junkie has the response from McGregor, and it's what most people would expect from the Irishman.
That would be perfect for me. His teammate Cole Miller, he pulled out. You’re trying to tell me that Dustin Poirier, Nik Lentz, both top 10 guys, no fights scheduled, didn’t know about Cole’s injury? They would’ve known before the UFC would’ve known. And yet nothing. They didn’t campaign for this. This is a main-event slot. It’s a big, big event. And yet there wasn’t a peep out of both of them.
So I know he doesn’t want that fight. He can pretend that he wants the fight and send out tweets and this and that. Let’s do it. One by one, I’ll take every single one of them out.
McGregor was originally scheduled to face Cole Miller, but the American Top Team product had to pull out of the fight due to a thumb injury. Poirier last competed in April against Akira Corassani, a fight Poirier won by TKO in the second round. The bout earned both competitors Fight of the Night honors.
Lentz meanwhile rebounded from his first defeat at featherweight by taking out Manny Gamburyan in May. He was subsequently paired up with Charles Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 50.
If a McGregor-Poirier fight does materialize it has the makings of a Fight of the Year candidate. Both Poirier and McGregor have fan-friendly styles and neither know how to move anywhere but forward. The build-up to the fight would likely help secure some undecided buyers for a pay-per-view card as well.
It would be a quick turnaround for McGregor, but considering he's been on the shelf since last year prior to his fight against Brandao, it's a good bet the Irishman wants to to strike while the iron is hot.
For Poirier it's the perfect opportunity to stay busy while the top handful of fighters in the division wait on the health of Jose Aldo. There's quite a few people in the division who could be competing for the UFC title, and with Poirier seemingly on the outside looking in, fighting McGregor gives him a high profile fight to take.
UFC 178 is scheduled for Sept. 27 in Las Vegas and already features a stacked lineup that will be headlined by the much anticipated rematch between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.
