The much-anticipated trilogy between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier goes down on Saturday, July 11 in what could determine who fights the current UFC Lightweight Champion, Charles Oliveira, next.
We’ll also have the pleasure of watching two former Welterweight title contenders, Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson strike it out. The rest of the card also features former NFL player Greg Hardy v Tai Tuivasa, Irene Aldana v Yana Kunitskaya and Sean O’Malley v Louis Smolka.
MAIN EVENT:
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Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor, Lightweight
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Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson, Welterweight
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Tai Tuivasa vs. Greg Hardy, Heavyweight
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Irene Aldana vs. Yana Kunitskaya, Women’s Bantamweight
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Sean O’Malley vs. Kris Moutinho, Bantamweight
Preliminary card
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Carlos Condit vs. Max Griffin, Welterweight
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Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price, Welterweight
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Dricus du Plessis vs. Trevin Giles, Middleweight
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Kevin Lee vs. Sean Brady, Welterweight
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Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia, Women’s Flyweight
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Ryan Hall vs. Ilia Topuria, Featherweight
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Omari Akhmedov vs. Brad Tavares, Middleweight
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Jerome Rivera vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov, Flyweight
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Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong, Middleweight
Where, when and how can I watch it?
UFC264 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 11 and is being held at the T-Mobile Arena. It will be broadcasted live on BT Sport Box Office. The price of the event is £19.95. The early prelims start at midnight and the main card will kick off at around 3am BST. We expect the main event of McGregor v Poirier to start at around 5am BST.
Conor McGregor (22-5-0)
It’s been quite an up and down few years for “The Notorious” as he’s lost two out of his last four fights. And to be honest I’m not really surprised. Conor has only had six fights in the last five years and the lack of activity really showed in his last fight.
Watching his fight with Poirier, Conor was almost unrecognisable at times. For the fight fans who have followed McGregor’s fighting career, I’m sure we are more used to seeing an elusive, calculated and measured fighter. However, in his last fight we saw a fighter who was more focused on boxing Manny Pacquiao. He didn’t give Dustin the respect that he deserved and got completely outclassed on the night.
In my opinion, this is one of McGregor's most important fights in his MMA career, as he seeks to avenge his loss to “The Diamond.” Don’t get me wrong, he’ll still sell fights, but he won’t have the respect from other fighters who feared him before.
Dustin Poirier (27-6-0)
Aside from his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC242, Poirier has been on an absolute rampage in the lightweight division. The Diamond has won nine out of his last 12 fights in the last five years, which is incredible.
Compared to his first encounter with “The Notorious,” it was clear to me we saw a more confident and experienced fighter in the Octagon. He didn’t allow any emotions or mind games to play a part in the second fight and more importantly he physically looks more comfortable at lightweight than he ever did at featherweight.
A win on Saturday will surely put Poirier in pole position to face Charles Oliveira for the lightweight title.
Prediction – Poirier 4th Round TKO
We’ve seen Conor make the necessary adjustments to complete a successful rematch before (against Nate Diaz) and therefore you could argue he could do the same against Poirier.
The obvious adjustment is checking those calf kicks. The calf kicks played a huge role in slowing him down, which really impacted his mobility and balance to strike back with any sort of conviction. However, for me, it’s whether Conor can keep the fight off the ground at the early stages, as I thought Poirier’s early takedown was extremely pivotal to setting the tone for the fight.
Therefore, Conor’s takedown defense will have to be on point and I would like to see him be lighter on his feet. Just based on his stance, you could tell in the second fight he was trying to be the early aggressor and look to outbox his opponent. However, that became his biggest downfall and I think Conor is at his best when he looks to counter punch his opponents. I’d expect Conor to throw more kicks and use that front kick, which we had seen on many occasions to keep Dustin on the backfoot but still be in range to strike.
For Dustin, he will be very aware of Conor’s track record of being an extremely fast starter with 20 of his wins finished in either round 1 or 2. So for him, getting past that early phase will again be extremely important. I think head movement will be key for Poirier and to constantly be looking for opportunities to take Conor to the ground and drain out his energy.
Taking all things into account, I think we’ll see the same result but more towards the 4th round. I think Poirier is running on a lot of momentum and is more of a complete fighter than he was back in 2014. He has incredible stamina and has all the attributes to slow down the fight and turn it up at the right moments. Therefore, I see Poirier finishing the fight in the 4th round.
The win streak was broken when “Durinho” came up against “The Nigerian Nightmare” Kamaru Usman for the Welterweight Title at UFC258. He had an explosive first round as he rattled Usman with an overhand right. However, Usman did incredibly well to recover and slow down the fight. He eventually got outworked on the feet and got finished on 3rd round with a vicious straight jab followed by a ground and pound
Prior to his title fight, he was riding on momentum with a six-fight win streak (most notably against Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia. He’ll be looking to get back to winning ways with his fight against Stephen Thompson.
Stephen Thompson (16-4-1)
Stephen Thompson, one of the most established strikers in the UFC Welterweight division, will look to cement his position as the number one contender and hopefully secure another crack at the Welterweight Title. He is the only fighter in the top five who hasn’t faced Kamara Usman. If this were to happen, I think this would be a very entertaining fight and a hard match up for Usman, but that’s for another blog!
His last fight came against Geoff Neal where he won by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night and deservedly so! At 38 years old, he still looks fast on his feet, as a lot of critics said he was slowing down after defeats to Darren Till and Anthony Pettis. However, wins over Geoff Neal and Vincente Luque have put him back in the frame for another title shot. He’ll be looking to put up another great performance on Saturday night against Gilbert Burns.
Prediction – Stephen Thompson via Decision
It’s hard to deny Burns’ power and the fact that he is one of the best submission grapplers on the UFC roster.
However, I think Thompson will take this one. I don’t believe Thompson has enough power to knock him out, but I’m confident he’ll out-strike his opponent to a decision win. He’ll go into the fight with a four-inch reach advantage, two-inch leg reach advantage and a 78% takedown defense, which will be key against a talented grappler like Gilbert Burns.
Regardless of the result, I think this will be one of the fights of the night between a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist and karate specialist.
Other Predictions
Tai Tuivasa v Greg Hardy – Tai Tuivasa KO Round 2
A great opportunity for both fighters to get their name out there and what better way than a viral KO. With 16 knockouts out of 25 fights between them, I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t one!
The question is “who do I think would get it?” Well, anything can happen, but stylistically I think this is a better matchup for Tuivasa. He’s got some mean low leg kicks, and we’ve seen Hardy struggle with lead leg kicks in the past. A few of those and I’m sure he’ll look to move inside his opponent and come over the top with an overhand right.
Another interesting match-up in the women’s Bantamweight division between Aldana and Kunitskaya.
Aldana is coming off a defeat against Holly Holm and will be looking to improve her standings in the Bantamweight division. Kunitskaya, on the other hand, is coming into the fight on the back of two consecutive victories.
Whilst Kunitskaya has the better record and will be coming in with confidence, I think Aldana’s striking will give her the victory. She is a very good striker and is a great boxer, so it’ll be interesting to see how she deals with a grappler and grinder who will look to wear down her explosiveness. Nevertheless, her judgement of range and movement will help her to avoid any grappling exchanges.
Sean O’Malley v Kris Moutinho – Sean O’Malley KO Round 1
Personally, one of my favourite fighters at the moment, ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley returns to the Octagon after a brutal KO victory over Thomas Almeida in the 3rd round. Some would argue he could have finished the fight in round one but stood off his opponent to get a walk off KO. Nevertheless, he looked in incredible shape as he has done in most of his fights in the UFC.
Probably unknown to most people, but Kris Moutinho is a CFFC veteran and has a chance to shock the world on the biggest stage in MMA. He comes from an excellent wrestling background, but generally loves to strike and get into some scrappy exchanges.
Based on the limited camp preparation his opponent has had, I see nothing but a Sean O’Malley KO. Sean is bigger, more experienced in the UFC and extremely dangerous in all departments, especially in striking. The ONLY chance I see Moutinho winning, is as if Sean’s ankle suddenly gives way and is unable to move. We’ve seen this previously against Andre Soukhamthath and Marlon Vera, but hopefully that doesn’t happen - I really do believe he is the star of future!
Molly McCann Predictions
We had also had the pleasure of speaking to UFC Star, Molly 'Meatball' McCann to get her predictions on the main card. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.
