Only five minutes of in-cage competition separated Conor McGregor from “billi-strutting” around the cage and being taken out of it on a stretcher.
By the time McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) was on the canvas with a splint on his leg, things had already taken a turn. But when a microphone was put in his hand by UFC commentator Joe Rogan, things got even uglier.
Visibly frustrated by the end of the UFC 264 main event vs. Dustin Poirier, which ended after his leg bent behind him in grotesque fashion, McGregor loudly proclaimed that the series will not end after three fights.
“I was boxing the bleeding head off him and kicking the bleeding leg off him – the usual shite to close this distance,” McGregor said. “This is not over. If I have to take this outside with him, I’ll go outside. I don’t give a bollocks.”
Prior to McGregor’s interview, Poirier (28-6 MMA, 21-6 UFC) had his time on the microphone and claimed that McGregor may have injured his leg early in the fight when a kick was checked. McGregor vehemently denied that any injury occurred prior to the final sequence. He then turned his attention to Poirier’s wife, Jolie, who gave him the middle finger.
“There was no check,” McGregor said. “Not one of them was checked. Your wife is in my DMs. Hey baby, hit me back up on chat later on. We’ll be at the after party, the Wynn nightclub, baby. You’re looking fit, you little hoe. F*ck him.”
McGregor targeted Jolie throughout UFC 264 fight week, frequently posting that he had a pending message request from her on Instagram, though the context of the DM was never explained specifically. At one point, McGregor made vulgar remarks that claimed she wanted to see his genitals. He also repeatedly called Dustin, “Jolie’s wife” at the UFC 264 pre-fight news conference.
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After a week of trash-talking, Poirier reflected on the back-and-forth in his post-fight interview and admitted he thought McGregor’s antics went too far.
“There’s no holds barred with the trash talk, right?” Poirier said in the cage. “But murder isn’t something you clown around with. There’s no coming back from that and this guy was saying he was going to murder me and all kinds of stuff. He was telling me he was going to kill me tomorrow (and that I) was going to leave here in a coffin. You don’t talk like that to people, man. I hope this guy gets home safely to his beautiful family, you know?”
UFC 264 took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.