July 11, 2021, 1:17 a.m. ET
Conor McGregor said he would walk Dustin Poirier “around the octagon like a dog.” Instead, he laid next to the cage with a cadre of medics attending to him while the referee, Herb Dean, raised Poirier’s left hand in victory.
At the end of the first round, McGregor threw a punch, but stepped back and landed awkwardly on his left leg, appearing to break a bone. The fight concluded because McGregor was unable to continue.
After a week of intense buildup, the hostility between the two men did not ease and in fact seemed to escalate. During his octagon interview, Poirier called McGregor “a dirtbag.” McGregor, still on the ground next to the commentator Joe Rogan, insulted Poirier’s wife.
It was the third fight between the two lightweights, a grudge match meant to settle the score and anoint a new unquestioned challenger for the champion of the 155-pound division, Charles Oliveira. Now, it leaves an inconclusive result that most likely will require a fourth try, though probably not in the immediate future.
“This is not over,” McGregor said.
U.F.C. President Dana White told reporters after the bout that Poirier would fight Oliveira next and that McGregor would undergo surgery on Sunday. White said he is open to matching McGregor and Poirier up again.
The anticlimactic ending concluded a night of exciting fights, from the aerodynamics of Niko Price to the chess match, stylistic showdown between Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson.
Burns won the co-main event via decision. The bout pitted Burns, a jujitsu specialist, against Thompson, a karate striker. Thompson landed clean shots, but Burns used his expertise on the ground to win on the scorecards.
Irene Aldana, the No. 4 ranked female bantamweight fighter, executed a stout performance against No. 5 ranked Yana Kunitskaya, delivering powerful blows and finishing her in the first round. Aldana has won three of her last four fights, her most recent defeat coming against a former champion, Holly Holm. Aldana will certainly move up in the rankings and she could either challenge Amanda Nunes, the current champion, or could draw another top contender.
Sean O’Malley, a rising bantamweight, finished Kris Moutinho in the third round after displaying a striking clinic. Moutinho’s face appeared so bloody and absorbed so much damage that referee Herb Dean mercifully stopped the fight. O’Malley, a fan favorite, will most likely next fight an opponent ranked in the top 15 in the division.
Greg Hardy, a former N.F.L. player, was knocked out by Tai Tuivasa. He is now on a two-fight losing streak.
July 11, 2021, 12:52 a.m. ET
Khabib Nurmagomedov, who feuded with Conor McGregor before and after their 2018 fight, sure was happy about Dustin Poirier’s victory.
Good always defeats evil.
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) July 11, 2021
Very happy for @DustinPoirier I hope you will get the belt end of the year
July 11, 2021, 12:52 a.m. ET
McGregor was adamantly arguing before the decision was read by the announcer that it be emphasized as a doctor’s stoppage. Perception is big, and that plays better than a technical knockout.
July 11, 2021, 12:48 a.m. ET
Conor McGregor lost his rematch against Dustin Poirier after a bizarre end to the first round in which McGregor appeared to break either his lower left leg or his ankle. As McGregor and Poirier swung at each other, McGregor stumbled backward and broke a bone without Poirier hitting him.
In a post-fight interview, Poirier said that he believed McGregor fractured his ankle earlier in the fight — when Poirier successfully defended a kick — and that the break was completed when McGregor stumbled backward. McGregor, using unprintable language, disagreed.
“This guy is a dirtbag, man,” Poirier said about McGregor, angry about prefight trash talk that he believed repeatedly crossed the line.
Before the bizarre ending, the fight was a barnburner. McGregor and Poirier came out swinging and kicking, familiar with each other from two previous matchups. Poirier scored a mid-round takedown, and kept McGregor on the ground for most of the rest of the round, landing a flurry of elbows to McGregor’s face that left his ear bloody.
McGregor has now fought four times in the last five years and lost three times, including two in a row to Dustin Poirier. The U.F.C.’s lightweight division is one of its deepest, and with a broken bone and no clear path back to the top, McGregor is foundering.
Poirier will likely fight Charles Oliveira, who was sitting cageside, for the lightweight belt. But given the U.F.C.’s track record for making big-money fights, it is not out of the question that Poirier and McGregor will fight at some point again.
July 11, 2021, 12:34 a.m. ET
Dustin Poirier wins by TKO after McGregor appears to break his ankle. What an ending.
July 11, 2021, 12:34 a.m. ET
Medics are still attending to McGregor. They’re currently bringing in a stretcher.
TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT
Conor McGregor landed awkwardly on his left leg and appeared to fracture his lower left leg or ankle, forcing the fight to be stopped by a doctor.
July 11, 2021, 12:30 a.m. ET
That’s not how you want a trilogy fight to end.
July 11, 2021, 12:30 a.m. ET
It appears that McGregor broke either his ankle or leg while moving to avoid a Poirier punch.
July 11, 2021, 12:27 a.m. ET
Thrilling first round from both fighters. McGregor’s left ear is bleeding.
July 11, 2021, 12:26 a.m. ET
Poirier has had McGregor on his back for a few minutes, and is landing a ton of elbows and punches.
July 11, 2021, 12:24 a.m. ET
In just the first minute, these fighters have exchanged a number of kicks and punches. They aren’t feeling each other out, they’re both going for it.
July 11, 2021, 12:17 a.m. ET
In McGregor’s warm ups inside the octagon as he waits for Poirier, his stance already looks more bouncy and fluid than the stiff boxing approach he took in January. Have a feeling he worked on that a lot during camp.
July 11, 2021, 12:15 a.m. ET
McGregor walking out to "Hypnotize," because of course.
July 11, 2021, 12:12 a.m. ET
The U.F.C. 264 co-main event was about the takedowns of Gilbert Burns, which he used to get a unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson.
Burns entered the fight ranked No. 2 among welterweights (Thompson is No. 4), just off a loss to the division’s champion, Kamaru Usman, at U.F.C. 258 in February.
In a technical bout that went the full 15 minutes, Burns dominated the fight on the ground, dragging Thompson to the mat in every round and ending the fight with an array of punches to Thompson’s neck in the last seconds of the third round.
Boos echoed throughout the crowd after the fight was over, to which Burns responded: “Let’s go. Boo. I need more.”
July 11, 2021, 12:08 a.m. ET
Time for Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor to begin the festivities of walking out to the octagon.
July 11, 2021, 12:04 a.m. ET
Gilbert Burns wins 29-28 on the scorecard of all three judges. This might just get him a re-match with Kamaru Usman.
UNANIMOUS DECISION
Gilbert Burns beat Stephen Thompson in a fight that he mostly controlled throughout all three rounds.
July 11, 2021, 12:02 a.m. ET
Super technical fight. Gilbert Burns pretty much controlled that whole thing, ending it with a series of shots to the back of Thompson’s neck.
July 11, 2021, 12:02 a.m. ET
Burns gets another takedown and ends the round with a hail of punches. Hard to see anything other than an unanimous decision for Burns.
July 10, 2021, 11:58 p.m. ET
Thompson didn’t see when he dropped Burns because of the momentum of his roundhouse kick. Had he pounced on him earlier, he may have gotten the finish.
July 10, 2021, 11:54 p.m. ET
A cagey second round, with both fighters landing shots but Thompson landing more, ends with another takedown from Burns.
July 10, 2021, 11:53 p.m. ET
Burns’s lead leg is starting to bruise from Thompson’s calf kicks. Doesn’t seem to be affecting him yet, though.
July 10, 2021, 11:49 p.m. ET
Solid start for Gilbert Burns. Controlled the round and got the takedown. Thompson was able to escape right at the end.
July 10, 2021, 11:45 p.m. ET
Former President Donald J. Trump received a welcoming though mixed ovation from the crowd at T-Mobile Arena when he entered just before the co-main event at U.F.C. 264. He was escorted in and took a seat near the red corner of the octagon.
It was a far cry from his entrance during U.F.C. 244 at Madison Square Garden in New York in 2019, when more fans appeared to boo him.
July 10, 2021, 11:44 p.m. ET
Burns vs. Thompson: Best stylistic matchup of the night, in my opinion.
July 10, 2021, 11:37 p.m. ET
For just a few seconds Greg Hardy had an advantage. Sensing blood in the water, he advanced on Tai Tuivasa. But he did not sense Tuivasa’s left fist, and just over a minute into the first round it dropped Hardy to the canvas, and the fight was over.
Hardy’s left eye was swollen shut, requiring medical assistance. Meanwhile, Tuivasa went about his trademark celebration and drank beer out of a fan’s shoe while sitting atop the cage. As Tuivasa exited the arena he had a few more shoe beers — including one unwelcomely spiked with hot sauce by a fan.
For some reason, the U.F.C. insists on trying to make the former N.F.L. defensive end Hardy into a star, despite Hardy lacking technique beyond bull-rushing his opponents and despite an arrest and conviction (which was later overturned) for allegedly assaulting an ex-girlfriend, which contributed to the end of his football career.
Tuivasa is incredibly fun, but he is not even ranked in the top 15 U.F.C. heavyweights. Perhaps this loss is the beginning of the end of Hardy’s U.F.C. career.
July 10, 2021, 11:22 p.m. ET
Hardy got too aggressive and careless and got caught. His left eye is swollen and officials attended to him for at least three minutes. He now is on a two-fight losing streak.
July 10, 2021, 11:21 p.m. ET
Tai Tuivasa ends it in just over a minute, and celebrates by drinking a beer out of a shoe. He caught an advancing Greg Hardy with a left hand, knocking him to the canvas and forcing the referee to end the fight.
Tai Tuivasa downs Greg Hardy in the first round with heavyweight power.
Then he climbed atop the fence and pounded a beer out of a shoe.
July 10, 2021, 11:17 p.m. ET
Tai Tuivasa came out to “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. He was 3 years old when that song first came out.
July 10, 2021, 11:14 p.m. ET
All of the empty seats I saw earlier are now filled. Pretty energetic environment.
July 10, 2021, 11:10 p.m. ET
Amanda Nunes reigns atop the U.F.C. women’s bantamweight division, and it is unlikely that she will release that grip anytime soon based on her recent performances.
But Irene Aldana made a bold statement that she could be next in line to challenge the greatest female fighter of all time. Aldana, ranked No. 4 in the division, stopped Yana Kunitskaya in the first round by technical knockout. She landed a counter left hook to drop her to the ground, and then landed shots to Kunitskaya while she laid on the ground. Kunitskaya tried to defend herself, but the referee stopped the bout after seeing enough damage.
Kunitskaya left the octagon with her head down and bloody. Aldana did not call out the next opponent she would like to face, instead saying she would take it “one step at a time.”
July 10, 2021, 11:05 p.m. ET
So much power from Aldana! The ref HAD to stop it.
TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT
Irene Aldana battered Yana Kunitskaya to stamp herself as a contender in the bantamweight division.
July 10, 2021, 10:57 p.m. ET
An exciting first bout of the U.F.C. 264 main card ended with fan favorite Sean O’Malley getting a technical knockout over Kris Moutinho in Las Vegas.
Herb Dean stopped the fight four minutes into the third round, a decision that was met with boos from those in attendance, as Moutinho absorbed a series of shots by O’Malley.
O’Malley was the biggest betting favorite on Saturday’s fight card, and it was obvious why as the fight commenced. The fans at T-Mobile Arena chanted his name at the onset of the fight as he did an air dribble.
“Shout out to the Phoenix Suns. I was going for a little dribble-dribble,” O’Malley shouted after his win.
O’Malley was accurate with his punches, and he struck early and often, but he clearly didn’t expect Moutinho to put up the fight that he did, and he appeared to be running low on energy the longer the fight went on.
July 10, 2021, 10:43 p.m. ET
O’Malley in his octagon interview with Joe Rogan: “That’s a lot of head damage. He probably saved a lot of years on his life.”
July 10, 2021, 10:42 p.m. ET
Referee Herb Dean saw enough damage on Moutinho’s bloody face and stopped the fight. Moutinho protested it and the crowd booed, but it was the right decision. Would like to see O’Malley fight a bantamweight contender ranked in the top 15 in the division for his next bout.
TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT
Sean O'Malley thoroughly picked apart Kris Moutinho and prompted the referee, Herb Dean, to stop the bout in the third round.
July 10, 2021, 10:36 p.m. ET
As good as O’Malley has been, Moutinho is giving him a tough fight. Can’t imagine O’Malley expected this, and he looks like he’s getting tired.
July 10, 2021, 10:32 p.m. ET
O’Malley showed some great striking in that first round and most likely would have gotten a finish if he had more time. He is effectively using his reach to break through Moutinho’s defense and is landing shots while he backs up.
July 10, 2021, 10:29 p.m. ET
Moutinho was very out of sorts after that right by O’Malley at the end of the first round. Exciting fight so far.
July 10, 2021, 10:23 p.m. ET
Less than a minute into the fight and the crowd at T-Mobile Arena started chanting “Sean O’Malley.”
July 10, 2021, 10:21 p.m. ET
I think this is the first time I’ve heard a fighter walk out to a song from the rapper 6ix9ine.
July 10, 2021, 10:12 p.m. ET
In possibly the biggest fight of his career, the welterweight Max Griffin beat Carlos Condit via unanimous decision with a dominant first round in which he landed a series of clean leg kicks.
Condit, making his 19th U.F.C. appearance, worked his way back into the fight in the second round as Griffin appeared to be slowing down, but the 35-year-old Griffin did enough in the third round, which included him briefly taking Condit down in the final minute, to seal it.
After the win, Griffin said that Condit is someone he has always looked up to. The fight closed the U.F.C. 264 preliminary bouts.
July 10, 2021, 10:05 p.m. ET
Sean O’ Malley has the potential to become a mainstream star for the U.F.C. He wears exotic hair and tattoos, and is 13-1 as a professional mixed martial artist. U.F.C. correspondent Megan Olivi said yesterday that he somewhat reminds her of McGregor when he started his ascent.
July 10, 2021, 9:34 p.m. ET
A bloody nose, a poked eye, a groin shot and aerodynamics defined an intense three-round battle between the welterweights Niko Price and Michel Pereira.
Pereira won via unanimous decision, but only after 15 hard-fought minutes against a resilient Price. When the announcer, Bruce Buffer, announced the result, the crowd in T-Mobile Arena gave mixed reviews after a fight in which Price had plenty of his own highlights.
But before the decision, Price slung his hand around Pereira’s neck to hug him in a sign of respect. After it was announced, Pereira lifted Price atop his shoulders and carried him around the octagon.
In the second round, Pereira forced Price to the ground and completed a back flip into a mount position. He also used flying knees and kicks during the fight. Price came aggressive in the third round, but Pereira stood stout and absorbed most of the shots.
July 10, 2021, 8:13 p.m. ET
In the final fight of the early prelims, Jennifer Maia outlasted Jessica Eye by unanimous decision in a fight that remained close throughout. Eye was the more aggressive fighter early on, but Maia landed enough big shots down the stretch to come away with a much-needed win.
It was a huge victory for Maia, of Brazil, as she came into the night on the heels of a loss to Valentina Shevchenko.
Maia and Eye accidentally butted heads in the second round, opening a huge gash to Eye’s forehead that had blood pouring down her face as the fight went on.
July 10, 2021, 7:07 p.m. ET
The third fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier is expected to be one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and perhaps just as alluring as the fight itself is the spectacle of celebrities expected to be in attendance to watch two of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest stars face off.
The U.F.C.’s president, Dana White, told TMZ that former President Donald J. Trump would be in Las Vegas on Saturday night as McGregor and Poirier complete their trilogy at U.F.C. 264.
White said that Trump will sit right behind him on the floor near the octagon.
“He don’t care,” White said on TMZ, adding that Trump will not be “hiding in a box somewhere. That’s not his style.”
The former president, who is a longtime friend of White’s, is a known mixed martial arts fan. He attended U.F.C. 244 in 2019, where he received a chorus of both boos and cheers as he entered the event.
McGregor, 32, a brash and theatrical fighter from Dublin, Ireland, has expressed support for Trump in the past, sending a tweet last year calling Trump a “phenomenal president.”
Phenomenal President. Quite possibly the USA 🐐. Most certainly one of them anyway, as he sits atop the shoulders of many amazing giants that came before him. No easy feet.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 21, 2020
Early stages of term also.
Incredible.
Congrats and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day America 🇺🇸❤️🇮🇪
Trump is just one of a long list of celebrities expected to be in attendance at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, including the comedian Dave Chappelle, the pop star Justin Bieber, the country singer Garth Brooks, the Nets star Kevin Durant and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
July 10, 2021, 6:26 p.m. ET
Just before the start of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s biggest event of the year, the coronavirus caused a small hiccup.
One of the early fights on the U.F.C. 264 card, a preliminary bout between the middleweights Hu Yaozong and Alen Amedovski, was canceled because of Covid-19 protocols, U.F.C. officials said.
ESPN was first to report the development. The card, headlined by a highly-anticipated trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, will continue with 12 scheduled bouts.
July 10, 2021, 6:07 p.m. ET
U.F.C. 264 takes place Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The early preliminary fights start at 6 p.m. Eastern, and the main pay-per-view card will begin at 10 p.m. McGregor and Poirier most likely will not fight until around midnight.
At a news conference Thursday, the U.F.C. president, Dana White, said the event had already generated the most pay-per-view buys in the company’s history, and he expects more the night of the fight.
It will be televised by ESPN+ with a purchase price of $69.99. Fans who do not already have an ESPN+ subscription can buy a bundle that includes the fight and a year of the service for $89.98.
The early prelims, starting at 6 p.m., will be carried by ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass and include four bouts. The preliminary card of four fights starts at 8 p.m. and will be carried on ESPN and ESPN+. The main card includes five bouts.
July 10, 2021, 6:07 p.m. ET
The two men first fought in 2014 at 145 pounds. It was McGregor’s fourth fight in the U.F.C., and experts viewed Poirier as his toughest opponent at that stage. But McGregor won almost effortlessly, striking Poirier with a left hook and then exerting finishing punches while Poirier lay on the ground, stopping only when the referee, Herb Dean, intervened.
Eight years later, the two fought at 155 pounds, at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in January. This time, McGregor landed clean shots but Poirier absorbed them. Poirier viciously attacked McGregor’s legs, wobbling his base. By the end of the first round, McGregor’s lead leg looked red and swollen.
Poirier used that strategy again in the second round and backed McGregor against the fence. He landed a hook to McGregor’s nose, causing him to fall to the ground, where Poirier finished him with punches.
White said the winner of the third fight would be next in line to challenge the lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira.
July 10, 2021, 6:06 p.m. ET
McGregor entered the U.F.C. in 2013 and quickly garnered attention through his trash talk, confidence and flashy style. He backed up those characteristics in the octagon by quickly dispatching most of his opponents, usually by delivering a powerful blow to his victim’s head with his left hand.
McGregor, of Ireland, became the first athlete in U.F.C. history to hold two belts simultaneously, winning the featherweight and lightweight championships through knockouts and prompting others to chase similar dual-belt aspirations.
He and Floyd Mayweather completed a crossover boxing match in 2017, which profited McGregor a guaranteed $30 million. He has fought in the U.F.C. only three times since, losing two of those contests.
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