After Dustin Poirier’s stirring TKO victory over Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 257 on Saturday night, the latter immediately looked to a trilogy bout.
With each man holding a big knockout win over the other, the stakes for a third fight between Poirier and McGregor are already significant.
But “Notorious”, as ever, wants to raise the stakes. According to his coach John Kavanagh, McGregor believes he and Poirier should have a trilogy fight pencilled in and have it for the UFC lightweight title if that’s confirmed to be vacated by the seemingly-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“That’s the big drive,” Kavanagh told ESPN‘s Ariel Helwani. “It’s 1-1, they’re right up there in the rankings, they’re very popular fighters. I think the two of them are a beautiful matchup. Stylistically, it’s beautiful to watch. I’d love to see lots and lots of rounds between the two of them.
“Dustin is obviously riding high with confidence now with more experience and more weight. He took some of those shots. I’m sure his confidence is super high at the moment. We have to fix that technique with the leg and a couple of other things, as well, but Dustin vs. Conor 3 for the belt in maybe May, that would be amazing.”
One theme going into McGregor’s return to the Octagon against Poirier was the former’s desire for an active 2021. A loss and subsequent medical suspension won’t help that.
However, Kavanagh says McGregor’s confidence isn’t dented and he is determined to get back in there against Poirier as soon as possible. Though, the SBG Ireland coach jokingly hinted that the MMA world should do all it can to help him maintain McGregor’s interest in competing in the sport.
“He’s already harassing everybody to get the rematch, so we would love to rematch,” Kavanagh told Helwani. “I don’t think Dustin is against that. If we can get the rematch before summer, that would be amazing.
“If it’s not to be, then I guess I don’t really know. Maybe he drifts off into the boxing. So if the MMA community could help me out here, get behind me, and pester the UFC to give him another fight sooner rather than later – so I don’t lose him to boxing for six months – I would appreciate it.”