Rivalries: Dustin Poirier

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Dustin Poirier knows the routine by now.

The American Top Team export will meet Conor McGregor for a third time in the UFC 264 main event on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, where the two longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship box office draws complete a trilogy some seven years in the making. Poirier enters the cage with a 19-6 record under the UFC flag, with the chance to become the eighth man in history to post at least 20 victories inside the Octagon. “The Diamond” has rattled off six wins across his past seven outings.

As Poirier makes final preparations for his definitive battle with McGregor, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape his career:

Conor McGregor

Poirier was the better man the second time around. The American Top Team mainstay avenged his 2014 defeat to McGregor and did so in style, as he punched out the former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder in the second round of their UFC 257 headliner on Jan. 23, 2021 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Poirier closed the deal 2:32 into Round 2, becoming the first man to stop the Irishman with strikes. McGregor was forced to play defense from the start. Poirier executed an early takedown, trapped the SBG Ireland star in the clinch and chipped away at his base with repeated kicks to his lower leg. McGregor connected well on the counter and backed up the Louisiana native with a few power punches but never managed to get his feet under him. Poirier continued to assault his leg in the second round, pinned him to the fence once it became clear he was compromised and let his lethal hands go. A right hook sent McGregor crashing to the canvas, where he was met with a volley of follow-up punches that finished him off.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

The American Kickboxing Academy superstar unified the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight crown, as he submitted Poirier with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their UFC 242 main event on Sept. 7, 2019 at The Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Poirier, who entered the Octagon in possession of the interim lightweight championship, raised the white flag 2:06 into Round 3. Nurmagomedov pressed the Louisianan into the cage, executed takedowns and overwhelmed him with positional control and ground-and-pound. Poirier clipped the champion with a right hand in the second round and pursued him with punches, only to find himself pinned to the mat once more. Perhaps sensing his situation was dire, the American Top Team rep threw all his effort behind a guillotine in Round 3. Nurmagomedov remained calm, freed himself and transitioned to the back, cinching the choke after Poirier made the mistake of lifting his chin ever so slightly.

Max Holloway

Superman has kryptonite. Holloway has Poirier. “The Diamond” laid claim to the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title with a stellar, career-defining performance, as he took a unanimous decision from Holloway in the UFC 236 main event on April 13, 2019 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 49-46 for Poirier. He has beaten Holloway twice in as many meetings, having submitted him with a triangle armbar in 2012. Sharp boxing and a noticeable advantage in punching power buoyed Poirier’s efforts. The Lafayette, Louisiana, native set the tone with a dominant first round, where he buckled Holloway’s knees with hooks from both hands. A lesser fighter may not have survived. However, the indomitable Holloway endured, zeroed in on the American Top Team star’s body and put the pedal to the floor. He pieced together one of his patented punching bursts in the third round, mixed in a brutal knee to the body and countered a takedown attempt from the weary Poirier with elbows to the side of the head. Not to be outshined, Poirier opened a gruesome gash between the featherweight champion’s eyes in the fourth round, sent split flying with an overhand left in the fifth and pinned Holloway to the fence in the waning moments, denying his bid for a comeback.

Eddie Alvarez

Poirier finished his business with Alvarez with a cataclysmic flurry of punches, elbows and knee strikes. No one could have expected anything less. Poirier buried the former Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA lightweight titleholder with his blitzkrieg in the second round of their UFC on Fox 30 headliner on July 28, 2018 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. Alvarez went out on his shield 4:05 into Round 2, unable to keep up with a man five years his junior. A competitive first round gave way to a wild second, touched off by a pair of attempted guillotine chokes from Poirier. Alvarez scrambled to his back, locked in a neck crank and transitioned to a seated mount at the base of the cage. A 12-to-6 elbow to the shoulder cost Alvarez his dominant position and necessitated a warning from referee Marc Goddard. After the restart, Poirier unleashed his ordnance. He followed a straight left with a thudding knee to the chest that sent Alvarez careening backward. Poirier pushed the Philadelphia native to the fence and let fly with knees, punches and kicks before a final well-placed elbow strike to the head sent his counterpart to the canvas and forced Goddard’s hand.

Michael Johnson

Poirier never knew what hit him. Johnson waylaid the American Top Team standout with punches in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 94 main event on Sept. 17, 2016 at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. “The Menace” sealed Poirier’s fate 1:35 into Round 1, handing the 27-year-old his first loss as a lightweight in more than six years. So sudden was the stoppage that neither man broke a figurative sweat. Johnson lured the Lafayette, Louisiana, native into his desired range before firing off a right hook-straight left combination. The concussive blows flattened Poirier and rendered him incapable of withstanding the barrage of rights and lefts that came next. Referee Dan Miragliotta was on the scene in an instant to prevent “The Diamond” from suffering further damage. As officials tended to the fallen Poirier, Johnson returned and stood over him, taunting with outstretched arms.