Conor McGregor dares Dustin Poirier to meet ‘in the middle’ ahead of UFC 264 trilogy bout

Conor McGregor wants Dustin Poirier to square up and meet him in the center of the octagon when they battle for a third time this summer.

Their series was tied at one win apiece at UFC 257 this past January, when Poirier avenged a September 2014 loss with a second-round TKO of McGregor. The two are now booked to settle the score at UFC 264 on July 10.

Unsurprisingly, the build for the fight has begun well in advance, with the two recently lobbing shots at each other over Twitter. Addressing the eight-year anniversary of his UFC debut, McGregor recalled the hard work that took him to the top of the UFC mountain and he vowed to take the same approach to what he calls his “comeback fight” against Poirier.

When Poirier responded, McGregor pointed out that he felt Poirier “backed up” in their first fight and was first to initiate the grappling. He vowed that he will be “in the middle from the very go” if Poirier is up for it and that he will also “be ready for the tactics” of Poirier this time.

Regarding McGregor’s recollection of the first fight, Poirier did indeed score a takedown around the 30-second mark of round one. McGregor recovered and returned the fight to the feet shortly after and put on a strong performance in the opening five minutes before succumbing to Poirier’s striking. Poirier made devastating use of calf kicks to pick McGregor apart and put him away with punches at the 2:32 mark of round two.

Poirier later responded to a fan who suggested he was lucky in the rematch, saying that “luck does exist, but it finds you working.”