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Conor McGregor may be at a crossroads in his career after suffering a knockout loss to Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257.
While a big favorite on the night, the former two-division UFC champion struggled to cope with Poirier’s brutal kicks to the legs, which then opened him up to a streak. powerful punches that ultimately ended the fight in the second round. Afterward, McGregor was upset with his performance as he fell by knockout for the first time in his mixed martial arts career.
According to UFC President Dana White, McGregor has only two career choices left after falling to Poirier in his first fight after a year off.
“I think that will make him hungrier,” White said of McGregor at the UFC 257 post-fight press conference. “There are two ways to do it – more hungry or I have finished. He has the money. I mean when you think about it I’m a huge one Rocky fan. It’s like Rocky 3. When you step off a 310 foot yacht, do you know what I mean? You live as well as a life. It’s hard to be a savage when you live like him and he has the money he has.
“On his way there was a hungry young child. He had no money and he wanted nice things. He wanted nice costumes, nice cars, nice houses. He has everything he ever wanted. Then I do not know. It goes that way or that way.
In Rocky 3Sylvester Stallone’s coach played by the late Burgess Meredith warns him ahead of a fight against a promising fierce.
“Three years ago you were supernatural,” Meredith’s character “Mick” said. “You were tough and you were mean and you had that cast jawbone, but the worst thing that ever happened to you, it could happen to any fighter: you have become civilized.
Is it possible that McGregor became civilized after living in luxury?
It’s hard to deny that McGregor’s life has changed dramatically in recent years after he became one of the highest paid athletes in all sports. He won a nine-figure salary for a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in 2017 and since then McGregor has only finished 1-2 in the UFC with one-sided losses to Poirier and reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
White wondered if McGregor would even want to fight again after making so much money in his career. But the Irish superstar has rarely wavered in his desire to compete outside of the struggles to reach a deal with the UFC on particular opponents.
Saturday night’s loss is definitely a setback, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for McGregor, especially with the potential for another fight against Poirier now that they’ve split a pair at the interior of the octagon.
“We’ll see,” White said. “I’m sure in a few hours he’s going to blow me up, tell me a million things he wants to do.” We’ll see what he wants to do from here.
“There is always a trilogy when you have 1-1.”
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