UFC 178 - McGregor v Poirier Preview

"Tomorrow night I take his head clean off!" a pumped McGregor screamed at the UFC Dublin weigh ins. And he did. Conor McGregor was a star when the UFC rolled into Dublin. He went in against Diego Brandao and made short work of him, barely breaking a sweat as he finished him in the first round. "We're here to take over" the Dubliner proclaimed in his post fight interview. And this Saturday the man they call "Notorious" can take another huge step towards UFC gold. (pic UFC.com) I'd seen McGregor fight once in the flesh before. He fought Joe Duffy in a Cage Warriors bout in Neptune stadium here in Cork. I didn't see much in him. Duffy took him down easily, transitioned smoothly and very easily from side control to mount and went on to finish the fight with an arm triangle. All within 38 seconds. The only one who looked like a future superstar was Duffy (which may still happen, following his Cage Warriors return recently). But McGregor got to work. And he worked hard at his game. He became the Cage Warriors featherweight champion. And then, just for bants, stepped up to lightweight and won the Cage Warriors lightweight championship against Ivan Buchinger on New Year's Eve 2012 in Dublin. A star was born. He hasn't lost since that bout with Duffy nearly four years ago. I interviewed McGregor ahead of that bout. He wasn't the character he is now, but you could hear the determination in his words - he was a man in no doubt of his ability and was fully confident he'd make it to the top. "He'll be a star in the UFC", Cage Warriors director of media and operations Paul Dollery told me. And he was right. (That interview with McGregor is below) It wasn't long after that win over Brandao that McGregor's next opponent was confirmed. Dustin Poirier, a softly spoken American Top Team fighter with an impressive 19-3 record. The Diamond rides a three fight win streak (and, like McGregor, has a first round KO of Brandao on his CV) and is expected to provide the Irishman with his toughest test to date. Only, that's what we've been hearing about all of McGregor's opponents in the UFC. Marcus Brimage was supposed to represent a massive step up in class from the opponents Cage Warriors put in front of McGregor. The TUF veteran was put down by McGregor's superb striking and the fight was over after 67 seconds. NEXT! Max Hollaway was supposed to represent a massive step up in class from Marcus Brimage. Despite destroying his knee midway through the fight, McGregor dominated the Hawaiian on his way to a unanimous decision win. NEXT! Diego Brandao was supposed to represent a massive step up in class from Max Holloway. Bayed on by a ravenous home crowd in Dublin, McGregor made short work of the Brazilian. NEXT! Dustin Poirier is supposed to represent a massive step up in class from Diego Brandao. Poirier claims that McGregor hasn't been tested on the ground. Poirier says he will beat him on the ground. McGregor says Poirier is a "peahead" and that he's going to knock him out in the first round. Will he? McGregor comes out in that awkward karate-style stance with his hands low, and comes at his opponents from weird angles, angles they don't see in training. He also hits HARD (as anyone who saw Brimage do his newborn baby deer impression in Stockholm could tell you), and if he catches Poirier early and flush it could be an early night for the Diamond. McGregor wins this bout, no doubt about it. NEXT? (Pic UFC.com) McGregor has made no secret of wanting UFC Gold. Speaking on Inside MMA (see below) McGregor said that the UFC are planning on bringing him to Brazil for the Jose Aldo v Chad Mendes bout at UFC 179. A win for him against Poirier, says McGregor, would put him in direct contention for a shot, and the fans would put pressure on Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta to make that happen. The UFC certainly have big plans for the Dubliner. In a sport where superstars and big characters are now few and far between (oh how I long for the days when I was genuinely excited by a Chuck Liddel fight, as opposed to the poor cards and nobody fighters we see sometimes twice a week now), McGregor stands out. He's loud, he's brash, he's not shy in telling the UFC what he wants, he runs down his opponents pre-fight to make them break mentally. He's stylish, he's charismatic, he's funny. People want to see him fight. People want to see him win. People also want to see him lose, but McGregor knows all this. He knows the business. He knows how it works. His fight with Poirier is the third fight from the top at UFC 178, behind the main event of Demetrius Johnson v Chris Cariaso (meh) and the co-main of Donald Cerrone v Eddie Alverez (a very interesting fight to be fair). But you can bet that the majority of the column inches pre and post fight will be dedicated to Notorious - for his pre fight quips before hand and for his dominant display (and post fight call outs) afterwards. The boy from Dublin is a bona fide superstar. So - here's how it pans out for me. He beats Poirier, handily. Aldo beats Mendes. McGregor and Aldo meet at the UFC's big Super Bowl weekend show. McGregor beats him, handily. And for his first title defence, McGregor sells out the Aviva against any of the top 10 (bouts against Swanson and Edgar would be intriguing). Not as crazy as you might think! But there's a lot of work to do before then. Making a statement on Saturday will go a long way to all of us being in the Aviva next summer, celebrating Ireland's world champion.