Conor McGregor has made plenty of dramatic returns during his UFC career.
This month marks four years since McGregor’s last comeback in MMA’s premier promotion was confirmed to fight Dustin Poirier in an epic trilogy bout.
Poirier, who is headlining UFC 318 this weekend, defeated the Irishman in their January 2021 rematch, stopping McGregor with an array of punches in the second round.
The win meant he had exacted revenge on his defeat to McGregor in 2014, when he was floored by ‘The Notorious’ before the second minute of their bout at UFC 178.
And six months later, ‘The Diamond’ would find himself back in the Octagon with McGregor for a third fight, though the process to get there wasn’t as plain sailing as fans may think.
Poirier had said after his rematch with McGregor that a third fight ‘interested’ him, but mentioned that Nate Diaz was someone he’d always wanted to share the cage with.
After months of rumours and the dust had settled from the rematch, McGregor vs Poirier 3 then emerged as the front runner for both men’s next bout.
But the planned, yet unconfirmed fight, was almost jeopardised after a series of online exchanges between the two fighters.
McGregor then took to social media in April 2021 to declare that his trilogy fight with Poirier was off.
He posted on X to hit back at Poirier’s claims that he hadn’t delivered on his promise to donate $500,000 to his charitable organisation, the Good Fight Foundation.
“You must be new to money,” his statement concluded.
“The fight is off by the way. I’m going to fight someone else on the 10th [of July].
“Good luck on your old contract, kid.”
McGregor’s message must’ve sent alarm bells ringing at UFC’s headquarters in Las Vegas, as it was only one day after that Dana White, the UFC CEO and President, came out and put all of the talk to bed.
He proceeded to announce that both men would indeed settle their differences once and for all in a third fight on July 10.
“I am so happy to finally be able to say: Vegas is back,” he said in a video posted on X.
“This summer, Las Vegas is back open for business, and on July 10, UFC 264 will be at the T-Mobile Arena at 100 per cent capacity.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s 20,000 fans, and this card will be headlined by the third fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Tickets go on sale this week.”
White had previously confirmed that Poirier rejected the chance to fight for the vacant lightweight title following Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s retirement so he could take on McGregor for the third time
This was a decision fully supported by his boss, who understood what was at stake for the New Orleans man.
“Dustin wants the [McGregor] rematch,” he asserted.
“It’s smart, that’s what he should do. He should take the rematch, take that fight. It’s a big fight for him.
“[The] kid’s worked hard his whole life, his whole career to be in a position like this and that’s the fight you take.
“We’ve been in positions like this before with others who have made the mistake of not taking that fight, and it’s the biggest mistake of their lives.”
Poirier went on to claim another victory over McGregor in the main event of UFC 264, as the latter broke his leg in the last second of the first round.
He has since had two wins and two losses, and now finds himself fighting for the very last time against Max Holloway on Saturday at UFC 318.
White confirmed UFC 318 was created entirely for Poirier’s last dance in the Octagon, saying his fighter was a cult hero ‘throughout the world.’
Poirier has already defeated Holloway twice in the UFC, but has said he isn’t looking back at those previous wins ahead of their third meeting.
Holloway, meanwhile, believes he can get a shot at Ilia Topuria’s lightweight title if he creates another epic ‘moment’ against Poirier in New Orleans on Saturday.