McGregor in a Must Win Situation at UFC 264
By Charles Jay
For those people who are going to be doing UFC 264 betting at BetAnySports, and have supported Conor McGregor in recent years, they may have come away very disappointed. It appears as if his career is on the downturn, as he’s lost three of his last six bouts.
But let’s face it – this is a sport where marketability counts for a lot. And McGregor still has an opportunity to fight for a world championship if he can win what amounts to a rubber match against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, taking place on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The main event is slated to get underway at 11:50 PM ET or perhaps a bit later. And fans interested in watching it live can see it via ESPN-Plus pay-per-view for a price of $69.99.
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UFC 264 – Odds
At BetAnySports, Poirier is listed as the favorite:
Dustin Poirier -140
Conor McGregor +120
Under 2.5 Rounds -145
Over 2.5 Rounds +125
UFC 264 – What’s at stake
The winner of this fight will be in line to fight for the UFC lightweight championship. Currently that title is held by Charles Oliveira, who defeated Michael Chandler to win the crown that was vacated when Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from competition.
Poirier had an opportunity to fight for that vacant championship, but chose to fight McGregor a third time instead. But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.
UFC 264 – McGregor vs. Poirier: The first time around
Poirier had an opportunity to fight McGregor at UFC 178 in September 2014. He admitted to being somewhat unable to handle the mental and emotional part of the situation. Even before coming out to the Octagon, McGregor gave Poirier a glance and a smile and Poirier said that somehow that “messed me up.”
What happened in the fight reflected that. McGregor scored a first-round KO over Poirier, sending the Louisiana native back to the drawing board.
UFC 264 – What happened to Poirier after that
Poirier won four straight fights, then was brutally knocked out by Michael Johnson. That was just a short detour, as he went on to defeat Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez before winning the “interim” lightweight title with a decision over Max Holloway.
The next logical step was to fight Khabib for universal lightweight recognition (September 2019). He was game, but the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter made him submit in the third round.
UFC 264 – McGregor-Poirier: The second time around
Poirier lost to Khabib in Abu Dhabi. He was back there this past January, for a rematch against McGregor, who, the story goes, had bigger things on his mind.
Many BetAnySports patrons were aware that McGregor had made solid plans for a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao. His management company, Paradigm, even signed Pacquiao to a contract, just to make it go a little smoother.
His claim, in retrospect, was that he had set a training camp up with the Pacquiao fight in mind. Was the Poirier rematch determined to be a tune-up? Maybe, but clearly McGregor wasn’t all that ready.
He was burned by Poirier’s leg kicks, but he was blasted out in the second round with strikes. That was the first time in McGregor’s pro career in which he was beaten on strikes.Usually it’s Conor who does his damage that way.
UFC 264 – Conor McGregor, recently
McGregor has lost three of his last six fights, going back to March 2016. Of course, he made a ton of money to fight Floyd Mayweather (August 2017), which resulted in a 10th-round TKO for Floyd.
Since that outing, he has fought three times in the UFC, losing twice – to Khabib and Poirier, with a win over journeyman Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in between.
UFC 264 – What will happen?
As mentioned, the winner here will fight Charles Oliveira. But who knows whether McGregor will take that step or look to something more grandiose if he wins.
You see, that’s the problem; McGregor has been to the mountaintop, and you have to wonder whether everything since then has been a letdown. Poirier, on the other hand, is a guy still looking to carve out his place in history. That sounds simplistic, but it could be a factor.
It is apparent that Poirier has a more well-rounded game, while McGregor is more one-dimensional; he’ll likely have to keep things in the stand-up phase and beat Poirier with strikes. That’s a matchup disadvantage for him.
There won’t be any advantage in “head games” for McGregor, as Poirier has been parrying some of the more combative remarks. He says “I’m coming to kill this man” and “the first one to go for a takedown is a dusty bitch.” But Poirier is laughing those things off. He knows he can beat this man now. And he’ll do it again on Saturday.
Round betting and props on all of the UFC 264 cards are available at BetAnySports right now…… There’s no better way to get ready for the big fight night!
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