Dustin Poirier isn’t buying into Conor McGregor’s excuse that he had stress fractures in his leg before their UFC 264 fight.
In the main event of the pay-per-view card, Poirier and McGregor had their trilogy match in a highly-anticipated fight. Early on, the Irishman had success, but after Poirier got him down he controlled him for nearly the entire round. Yet, with just seconds left when McGregor got back to his feet, he threw a steep kick that hit Poirier’s elbow, and when he landed back on it and threw a punch, his leg snapped.
With McGregor’s leg broken, the fight was called and since then, the Irishman has said the injury happened before the fight. However, for Poirier, he believes those are just excuses as he says McGregor is mentally weak.
“Right off the bat, mentally, I just feel like it’s weak,” Poirier said on “THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas” (via MMAJunkie). “It’s weak, it’s excuses, but I’m trying not to read too far into it or go down these days of reading what videos are out and what people are saying, because I’m back home with my family. It’s a win on my record. I know I did what I needed to do in the fight, pre-fight, in my training camp.
“I crossed and checked all the boxes I needed to check, gave it my all and then went out there and – like we’re saying, it’s noise,” Poirier continued. “Whatever people are gonna say or he’s gonna say, it is what it is. I’m healthy, I’m safe, I’m back home, have another win on my record, and I’m still the No. 1 contender, so those are facts.”
Part of the reason why Poirier also believes McGregor is mentally weak is due to the excuses he had after UFC 257 where Poirier knocked him out.
“There were a lot of excuses in the last one, too,” Poirier said. “He was getting ready to box, he wasn’t focusing on mixed martial arts, he was getting ready to fight Manny Pacquiao, and a lot of reasons. A lot of excuses. … If you’re training for a fight, you’re going to go into fight week with something going on. Whether it’s an elbow, a wrist, a hand, an ankle, something’s gonna be busted up.”
Regardless, Poirier knows he won the fight and will be fighting for UFC gold next time out.
