The feud between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor continues, with Poirier criticizing McGregor’s withdrawal from UFC 303 due to a broken pinky toe and expressing willingness to fight him again despite their contentious history.
The Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor feud lives on.
At UFC 303, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the cage in a five-round main event fight against Michael Chandler. But two weeks before the event, McGregor withdrew, citing a broken pinky toe.
McGregor’s reason for pulling out of the fight received plenty of criticism. While former foe Dustin Poirier wants to give “Notorious” the benefit of the doubt, he agrees with the critics.
“Dude, a pinky toe?” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “I’ve fought with so many injuries." Like Conor said he fought with a lot of injuries; I’ve fought with a lot over the years too.
"A pinky toe doesn’t seem like a reason to pull out of a fight," Poirier continued. "But also, giving him his respect, I don’t know the severity of it." Did he damage ligaments? Is it the muscle in his foot? There’s a lot going on inside of a foot—small bones and all that.
"If it’s just a pinky toe, I think that’s not a reason to pull out," Poirier concluded.
Poirier and McGregor have quite the history together. They first met in 2014 when McGregor knocked Poirier out at UFC 178 at featherweight. Seven years later, they rematched up a weight class in the main event of UFC 257; this time, Poirier knocked out McGregor.
This set up their trilogy fight at UFC 264. Once again, Poirier won when McGregor suffered a devastating leg injury.
While they had mostly been on good terms heading into their rematch, things deteriorated before their third bout—partly due to a promised donation to Poirier’s charity. Then things took an even darker turn after the bout when McGregor lashed out at Poirier and his family.
McGregor even threatened to kill Poirier and his wife! Even after the event, he continued doubling down on his feud with Poirier. Given all this animosity, “The Diamond” is prepared to run things back with McGregor if given another chance.
“He crossed lines you can’t come back from,” Poirier said bluntly.
“I want to whip his ass.” The other day I saw him say something—he’s trying to bring that out in me. He wants me to fire back; I just go about my day… [But] of course I want to say something right back and try setting up another fight with him. But it is what it is.”
McGregor still hasn’t fought since his most recent bout with Poirier back in 2021. Meanwhile, Poirier recently fell short in his lightweight title bid—losing by fifth-round submission to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.