Who will have the advantage and where…
Unless you have been living under a very substantial rock for the past few days you will know that Conor McGregor is facing off against Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The fight promises to be a humdinger and we, like everybody else in Ireland, will be cheering on McGregor when he takes to the Octagon on Saturday.
There has been a lot of talk about how this will definitely be The Notorious’ most challenging test to date and many experts are making the Crumlin man an underdog.
We weren't sure here in JOE who rightfully deserved to be the underdog in this bout so we have decided to go through the different areas of the fight to see who actually has the advantage.
Let us know what you think…
Striking
Probably the most important area of this fight. Two men will step into the Octagon on Saturday who are accomplished strikers and won’t take a backwards step.
Poirier loves a brawl and will have no problem standing trading punches, while McGregor’s fists are like pistons when he gets them going, finding people’s chins from all angles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZw3MCw-PU
Video via Jack Slack.
You have to think that this will be an area where McGregor will have the upper hand. The Notorious is such a precise striker with both hands and feet that he may have Poirier under some serious pressure. As we said earlier, Poirier likes to stand and trade but that means he eats some punches too. McGregor packs such power and precision in his shots that if Poirier gets caught flush with a left or a right it could be game over for him.
Advantage: McGregor
Wrestling
This would seem to be an area of strength for the American who likes to mix up his fighting. Poirier likes to constantly keep his opponents on the back foot by pushing them back with punches and launching takedowns in between punching barrages.
He continues into a ground and pound and he has finished a couple of his fights this way. He has shown a decent wrestling game in the past and should have an edge in that area on Saturday.
McGregor’s wrestling skills are little bit of an unknown quantity. Only against Max Holloway did he spend any significant portion of time on the ground and that was only due to injury although he did show some glimpses of wrestling potential against Brandao. Having been submitted just a few years ago by Donegal boxer Joseph Duffy you can bet it is an area that McGregor has worked extensively on.
Rumours that The Notorious wrestles with a new opponent every two minutes in training mean he has surely improved vastly. He may get tested in this area on Saturday so we should know more about his skills afterwards.
Advantage: Poirier
Submission/ Grappling
This is an area of real strength for the American. Anybody who has watched the documentary Fightville will have seen the work and time Poirier has put into submissions and he has finished three of his victories in the UFC by submission.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-67e9Vk8gc
Video via metropcs.
McGregor is less accomplished in this area, mainly because of the array of striking weapons he has at his disposal, he rarely needs to produce a fight winning submission. He has finished via submission just once but as we mentioned earlier, he has also lost via submission once in his career.
That is not to say that this is an area of weakness for the Crumlin man, and we saw the evidence of his grappling improvement against Brandao when he took the Brazilian down. But it just seems like an area that Poirier knows he can lean back on if the stand-up battle isn't going his way.
Advantage: Poirier
Mental battle
There is no doubting who the winner of this battle is. McGregor has shown over his career that he likes to talk a lot and he has a knack of getting inside opponent’s heads. During recent face offs it is clear that McGregor’s mind games have been working as Poirier initially seemed cool and collected but let his emotions run wild at a press meeting yesterday.
Poirier is a professional but he has been known in the past to get emotional in the Octagon, particularly against the Korean Zombie. The Notorious will be very confident that he has a clear edge in this area and this bodes well for the Irish man in the run up to Saturday.
Advantage: McGregor
This could be a Fight of the Night contender, especially if Poirier stays on his feet and it seems likely that he will initially at least. It will surely be a bruising and brutal contest but we fancy a certain Irishman to be holding up the tri colour following the fight in Las Vegas on Saturday.
McGregor star is on the rise and this win could push him into title contention... you heard it here first.
Prediction: McGregor via second round TKO.
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