Yesterday was the six year anniversary of UFC 178. That night, Conor McGregor (22-4) knocked out Dustin Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) in the first round of their highly anticipated lightweight matchup. The fight was the first real test for McGregor inside the UFC.
After that fight, McGregor went on to become the biggest star the UFC has ever had. Meanwhile Poirier reinvented himself at lightweight and climbed all the way to winning the interim UFC lightweight championship last year.
Both men have been linked to each other for some time as Poirier has wanted to get that fight back. However, the UFC never came close to booking the fight. Both men are in the same boat right now in that they are not happy with the promotion.
Conor McGregor has been in a public spat with Dana White, while Dustin Poirier has expressed frustrations after his fight with Tony Ferguson never materialized. This was due to financial requests from Poirier which Ferguson actually supported.
Tonight the latest saga involving Conor McGregor’s Twitter account took another turn. Poirier tweeted at McGregor to which McGregor followed up with a request for an MMA match for charity having nothing to do with the UFC. Poirier said that he was in.
Excellent! We shall take it offline and progress the process from here. Good man Dustin! I respect your philanthropic efforts greatly, as well as how you conducted yourself post our first fight. You have my respect!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 29, 2020
Would the UFC allow this to happen?
The simple answer to the above question is no. McGregor and Poirier are both under contract with the UFC and I’m sure that the promotion wouldn’t allow the two fighters to compete against each other even if it was for charity.
However, there is an easy solution to all of this. How about just having McGregor and Poirier fight in the UFC? It’s a fight that makes perfect sense from a rankings perspective, and it would be a fight that would generate the payday that Poirier would want.
Not too mention the fact that it would put McGregor back in the UFC where he belongs. While people would tune in, nobody really wants to see McGregor box Manny Pacquiao. They want to see McGregor inside the UFC.
This Twitter exchange will likely be chalked up to good fun, but it’s actually a fight that makes sense. I know that Dana White is not either mans’ favorite person at the moment, so maybe Hunter Campbell can take this one. Or maybe we could see Lorenzo Fertitta back in the mix to make it happen.