By Gustavo Castilho
The two face off again six years later after their first meeting in Abu Dhabi.
One of the most anticipated fights since the beginning of 2021. After a year, the Irish McGregor, former featherweight and lightweight champion, and the first fighter in history to have two UFC belts at the same time, returns to the octagon to face the American Dustin Poirier, second in the ranking of the lightweight division (up to 70.3 kg). The two face each other again six years after the first meeting, which ended with McGregor’s victory in the first round. The fight, which will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is the card’s main fight, which starts at 8:15 pm, Brasília time.
A fight where the balance speaks louder. In physical characteristics, he is tied. The Irishman has greater arm span, but the American has longer legs. McGregor has an impressive knockdown average of 1.95 every 15 minutes, that is, almost two per fight. Poirier, on the other hand, is more precise in the blows (50.3% against 49.4%). It imposes a greater volume (5.74 strokes connected per minute, against 5.45) and still absorbs fewer strokes on average (4.29 to 4.40). McGregor has a small advantage in defending standing goals, 0.2%.
In the grappling fight, the Irishman has better use of his takedowns. He put it down in 62.5% of fall attempts, against just 35.6% of the American. That good number may be the fact that McGregor rarely thinks about taking the fight down with just 0.75% drops in 15 minutes. Poirier has 1.55 average takedowns per fight, and tries 1.07 submissions every 15 minutes, while McGregor never tried to submit to anyone using Jiu-Jitsu in the UFC. But the American will have a job if he wants to overthrow the Irishman, who defends 70% of attempts to fall.
PRELIMINARY CARD:
Flyweight: Amir Albazi vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Featherweight: Nik Lentz vs. Movsar Evloev
Middleweight: Andrew Sanchez vs Makhmud Muradov
Heavyweight: Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. Marcin Prachnio
Bantamweight: Julianna Peña vs. Sara McMann
Middleweight: Brad Tavares vs. Antônio Cara de Sapato
Lightweight: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Nasrat Haqparast
MAIN CARD:
Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez vs. Amanda Ribas
Lightweight: Matt Frevola vs. Ottman Azaitar
Flyweight: Jessica Eye vs. Joanne Calderwood
Lightweight: Dan Hooker vs. Michael Chandler
Lightweight: Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
UFC CHIESA X MAGNY
Before Saturday’s event, six Brazilians will be in action at ‘UFC Chiesa x Magny’. In the main fight, the duel between welterweight (up to 77.1 kg) between the Americans Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny, revealed in the reality show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ that occupy the eighth and ninth positions in the ranking, respectively.
