UFC 318 star Dustin Poirier knew what to do to take revenge at Conor McGregor in their second and third fights.
On Saturday, Poirier will say goodbye to his last as an active hunter 18 years after his debut as a professional.
Poirier will retire in the main event of UFC 318, which will be his challenge for the BMF title of Max Holloway in their trilogy fight in the Smoothie King Center of New Orleans. Although trilogies are rare in MMA, it will not be the first of the Louisianan.
'The Diamond' shared the cage three times with the greatest superstar of the sport, and he came to the winning side after he had recognized his most important mistake for the first time.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Dustin Poirier rightly said he would beat Conor McGregor if he is not fighting emotionally
After defeats for 'The Korean Zombie' and Cub Swanson, Poirier was planned the Federweight Ladder of the UFC in 2014 by the UFC on UFC 178.
After a heated structure that both men saw go back and forth, the Irishman got the last smile when he stopped 'The Diamond' via TKO in less than two minutes.
Poirier was certainly not the last opponent of McGregor's who fell victim to the trash can and mental play of the Dubliner. But not everyone got the chance of a do-over.
While he spoke with Sky Sports in 2015, Poirier showed interest in a rematch along the line and insisted that he would be the better hunter as soon as she shared the cage without being emotionally compromised.
“There are many reasons why things went wrong for me, but he was just better that night,” said Poirier. “I don't believe in calling shots 'happiness' because he threw it, I moved and I was hit by it. It was a well -placed, well thought out blow he threw. It struck me and I went down early.
“I was very emotional, only because of everything that had happened between me and Conor. The structure of the fight between us made me emotionally fighting, instead of relaxing, and that's how I like to fight.”
With that in mind, Poirier justified that without the same emotional mentality that leads to the fight and with the rematch that takes place at lightweight, he would avoid McGregor's Kill -shots and landed.
“I am 100 percent willing to fight against Conor again, because the first time we didn't really get the chance to fight,” said Poirier. “He hit me with a good shot and I went down. I would like to do it again.
“It would be another fight with 145 pounds, and certainly if he comes to 155. I would not be hit again with that shot, and I would not let myself be so emotional.
“I know I could beat him – I am a better hunter than I showed the last time,” Poirier added.
Poirier played McGregor on UFC 257 and made up for those comments six years later.
Dustin Poirier has the chance of a clean sweep in his second UFC trilogy
After a dominant first round for Poirier on UFC 264, McGregor ended who broke his leg, 'The Diamond' took a 2-1 lead over the Irishman in their series.
Now, four years later, 'The Diamond' has the opportunity to end his career with a different, more tormenting trilogy correline.
Poirier has confronted his pension fight opponent twice before, after he has submitted Holloway in the UFC debut of Hawaiian in 2012 before beating him in a memorable five-round war to capture the interim light weight six years later.
With 'blessed' after having lost all three of his fighting against Alexander Volkanovski, he is the assignment to withdraw one on Poirier if he wants to avoid a second clean sweep defeat in a UFC trilogy.