Conor McGregor has accomplished a ton in MMA, but UFC president, Dana White believes his UFC 264 fight is legacy-defining.
McGregor and Dustin Poirier are set to headline the pay-per-view card from Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. They fought back in January, where Poirier scored a second-round TKO, and now, they will settle their trilogy. If McGregor loses, he’d fall to just 1-4 in his last five, including the loss to Floyd Mayweather, and would be 3-4 in his last seven in MMA.
Yet, if McGregor does exact his revenge, it would be a massive win for the Irishman, which White says would cement him as one of the GOATs.
“He’ll go down as one of the greatest of all time. To have lost the belt, gone through the things that have happened to him personally, professionally. Then to come back again, beat the number-one contender who just beat him, and then fight for the title and win…” White said about McGregor to ESPN (via MiddleEasy). “Financially, it’s off the charts and professionally, it’s off the charts. It would make him go down in history as one of the all-time greats.”
Although many are counting out McGregor, he has a ton of confidence as he believes he will KO Poirier on Saturday. Should he do just that, he would earn a lightweight title shot and he has a chance to reclaim UFC gold.
“There’s so much riding on this fight, and the silent, ‘not hearing from Conor McGregor’ Conor McGregor means he’s probably very focused and dialed in for this fight,” White said. “So much at stake for this fight, and I love that about it. The big question about Conor right now is, the guy has so much money, is he the same Conor, is he focused? We know that this kid loves to fight. He doesn’t need to fight right now, he’s fighting because he loves it. He’s got an opportunity here, if he can beat Dustin Poirier, the number one guy in the world, he can get a title shot.”
Do you think Conor McGregor would be one of the GOATs with a win at UFC 264?