Abu Dhabi (AFP)
Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Conor McGregor was knocked out by American Dustin Poirier in the second round of their UFC fight on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
McGregor was making his return to an octagon, in the lightweight division, a year after his last appearance.
Poirier surprised him with a leg kick followed by a flurry of hand blows that knocked him down, before referee Herb Dean put an end to the fight, after 2 minutes 32 seconds in. the second recovery.
"It's hard to be inactive for that long," pleaded the 32-year-old Irish fighter, after what was only his third cage fight in over four years.
Brought to the entry floor, a field where he is less comfortable, then destabilized by Poirier's regular low kicks, + The Notorious + McGregor seemed to find the thread of the fight in the first round before collapsing on the sequence with the fatal fists of the American in the following recovery.
"His low calf kick was very good, but Dustin is a real fighter," admitted McGregor, limping but fair.
"I'm going to dust myself off and come back because that's what I always do. I'll take those punches," the Irishman promised.
Opposite him, Dustin Poirier, 32, showed a very different version of him from 2014 when, outmatched, he was knocked out by McGregor in 109 seconds.
A mark that the Irishman had boasted of lowering under the minute, all week before the meeting.
“First of all I want to say that Conor took this result with professionalism. We're at 1-1 and maybe we'll have to put that back,” Poirier said.
Second in the UFC lightweight category, the American is in a strong position to inherit or fight for the belt, held by Russian Khabib Nurmagomed (29-0), but now retired.
"I think it was a fight for the title. I'm the champion now," said Poirier after his victory in the bubble of the "Fight Island" set up in Abu Dhabi to avoid the risks. related to coronavirus
© 2021 AFP