One of the quirky things that happens in combat sports is that fans and journalists love to over-analyze how fighters act at press conferences. We look at their demeanor and use how they act in front of a microphone to try and figure out how their fight will play out. This is done to an even larger degree when Conor McGregor becomes involved.
In the build up to Saturday's UFC 264, Thursday evening saw Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier come face to face at the pre-fight press conference; the first time they'd be together since their previous fight back in January. In an arena mostly filled with Irish flags and other memorabilia, McGregor returned to old vintage press conference form. The evil, maniacal, mind-game-playing, ruthless Conor McGregor that fans first came to know and love is officially back.
After being introduced to the stage first, McGregor would shake UFC President Dana White's hand, only to grab Poirier's hot sauces off the podium before Poirier had even made it to the stage. It was reminiscent of when McGregor grabbed Jose Aldo's belt off the table back at their press conference in 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDfWBoouANU
The first words McGregor would go on to say would be "you're getting walked like a dog in that octagon on Saturday night."
After calling Poirier's wife Jolie Poirier "the husband of the family", Poirier would go on to respond "you used to be a lot better than that man" calling McGregor's trash talk "f*cking weak."
While Poirier didn't opt to take many shots back at McGregor, he did land a few verbal jabs that received a reaction from the crowd. In fact, McGregor even appeared to give him props for one of his comebacks after Poirier stated that he would be celebrating his win with a nice bottle of Redbreast, an Irish Whiskey in direct competition to McGregor's Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey. McGregor responded softly, "good one."
When asked if McGregor would have respect for Poirier after their trilogy bout on Saturday, win or lose, McGregor responded "I don't give a f*ck about him to be honest." When Poirier was asked the same question, he took a different approach, stating "I do [have respect for him]... respect to him and everything he's done."
Dana White would also state that this is the most amount of pre-PPV purchases they have ever seen (which should be taken with a grain of salt since he seems to say this every time there's a big PPV).
McGregor would go on to say "f*ck the whole roster!" before the microphones were put down and McGregor and Poirier were faced off. Security was tense, and there were plenty of words being exchanged between the two lightweights. Eventually, McGregor would throw a kick at Poirier, leading to security stepping in and breaking up the face-off.
McGregor and Poirier will face off for the final time on Friday afternoon at the ceremonial weigh-ins. UFC 264 is scheduled to go down on Saturday, July 10 with the main PPV card starting at 9 pm CST.
Highlights from the pre-fight press conference can be viewed here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO8PVlSi27k
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