Conor McGregor will return for the second time in 2021 on Saturday night as he has his trilogy match against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
McGregor and Poirier fought back in January where Poirier scored a second-round TKO win. The loss made the Irishman just 1-3 in his last four, including the loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Floyd Mayweather in boxing. There’s no doubt massive pressure on McGregor to get the win and UFC president, Dana White revealed the stakes for the Irishman.
“Listen, Conor McGregor is a competitor,” White told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “All you’ve got to do is look. The guy has a ton of money. He doesn’t need to fight anymore. He wants to fight. He’s a fighter to the core. What’s at stake is, yes, he wants to be back on top. He goes in there and beats the No. 1 guy in the world, he’s probably going to get the next title shot. The other thing Conor McGregor likes probably more than competition is money. When he fights, he makes a sh*tload of money. These are all still very important things to him at this point in his life.”
Dana White has said the winner of Poirier-McGregor 3 will get the next lightweight title shot. However, the UFC president knows nothing is certain about McGregor and his future so he isn’t thinking about what happens past Saturday night.
“I don’t think about anything with Conor until after Saturday,” White said. “Because you never know where this kid’s head is and what he’s thinking. He’s a fighter, man. I used to say about him all the time, a lot of people like to criticize and this and that. I’ve been in the living room. I’ve been on the phone when we’re standing in front of the kid saying, ‘Your opponent fell out and blah, blah, blah.’
“I know who Conor McGregor is on the fight side. You have a lot of guys who talk a lot of sh*t publicly,” White continued. “Most of it’s not true. The thing is with Conor McGregor is this guy has always stepped up and been willing to fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. He’s extremely wealthy. The question is, ‘How much more of this does he want?’ How hungry is he? We’ll find out on Saturday night. Win, lose, or draw, we’ll find out probably a couple weeks after that what he wants to do next.”
