The UFC 178 event scheduled for September 27th in Las Vegas will feature a heated featherweight fight between Ireland’s own Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. The line sits at the books right now with McGregor as the favorite at (-180), with the return on Poirier (+160).
It is a highly anticipated match-up of two of the sport’s young up and coming fighters. McGregor, a veteran of the MMA circuit in Ireland who has two losses early in his career but has reeled off 11 wins in a row, including 3 in the UFC. McGregor is the hot name right now, mainly because he has backed up his boasts with actions in the octagon and he has the entire country of fight hungry Ireland behind him right now.
Poirier is a pretty even match on paper, and Poirier has more experience than McGregor in terms of the cotagon. Like McGregor, Poirier became a big name with 4 straight wins in the UFC, and he has overcome a rough patch where he went 1-2 with a three fight winning streak. The feeling of losing to end a hot streak and the fall from grace that comes with that is an experience Poirier would love to share with McGregor.
The two have exchanged barbs in the media, as both up and coming fighters seems to have zeroed in on the other as a rival in the divisino and one that must be vanquished. McGregor is going to win every exchange in the media, especially in America where his ghetto Irish accent sounds tough when compared to the well spoken, often soft spoken Poirier.
But that may just be crowd reaction to the bombast of McGregor. McGregor throws bombs, and he is physically very strong and well conditioned. These two factors allow him to be dangerous throughout a fight and it often let’s him dictate the pace of the fight and also where the fight is going to take place.
When it comes down to it, Poirier is a good puncher himself, and he has a much wider range of skilles than McGregor, especially when it comes to submission and ground fighting. If Poirier can get the fight to the ground without he himself getting grounded by the fists of McGregor, he has a lot more outs and may be worth the look as a ‘dog.
