When it comes to the ultra-anticipated trilogy matchup next weekend between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre is expecting a party in Ireland following the result of the UFC 264 headliner.
Everybody from fighters to analysts to fans has an opinion on who will win the July 10 rubber match between the Irishman and his American rival. However, when it’s one of the greatest UFC fighters of all-time laying down some opinion on a big fight, those thoughts holds a bit more weight than most. Here’s what the former two-division champ had to say via the Tristar Gym Youtube channel.
Georges St-Pierre picks McGregor in UFC 264 trilogy fight
“I think McGregor is very good in rematches, and I think he’s going have the victory. I think he’s probably going to win in the second round. A knockout,” St-Pierre said.
It’s an interesting perspective from St-Pierre, considering McGregor has only competed in two rematches during his 27-fight professional career. Those being his runback with Poirier in January at UFC 257, and his rematch with his other top rival in Nate Diaz at UFC 202. The 32-year-old split wins and losses in those two bouts.
In the same video, the Canadian’s long-time coach Firas Zihabi chose to offer a counterargument and explained, while despite being a difficult fight to make a pick on, he is favoring “Diamond” in this blockbuster third fight.
“I think at 155 [pounds], McGregor’s power is not exactly what it used to be. And he’s got to do five rounds [for this fight]. Poirier showed in fight number two he’s smart enough to take McGregor to the later rounds. In round one, he took a big left and he took it well. I think psychologically, he’s a bit more ready to take that left hand.
I think it’s an incredibly difficult fight [to call], but Poirier’s going to take him in round three, and he’s going to do the same thing he did before. He’s going to kick the leg, he’s going to injure McGregor a little bit on the leg, and then he’s going to put hands on him,” Zihabi said. “It’s going to be a trench war and Poirier’s going to put him away.”
UFC 264 takes place July 10, inside Las Vegas, Nevada’s T-Mobile Arena. The event will air exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view, and will also feature a co-main event bout between top-five welterweight stars Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson.
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