Poirier Slams McGregor: I’ll Be The First Real Fight He Has

By BJPENN.COM News - July 21, 2014

UFC Featherweight Dustin Poirier is less than pleased with the hype surrounding Conor McGregor. Poirier has been campaigning for a shot at McGregor via Twitter, a fight McGregor says Poirier ‘doesn’t really want’. Regardless, Poirier spoke on The MMA Hour about a potential matchup with McGregor.

“Right off the bat I’ve been fired up about this guy,” he told host Ariel Helwani. “I’ve been in this division since the WEC merged. I’ve paid my dues, and I’ve stayed quiet and busted my ass, day in, day out, won the fights I needed to win, and I’ve had some tough fights. I feel I need to be up there. I need to be up there where people are talking about me. [McGregor’s] name and the featherweight title should never come out of anybody’s mouth. I can’t believe the hype he’s getting.”

“To tell you the honest truth, I think I should be fighting Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes, Cub Swanson again…I should be fighting the top guys,” he said. “But, I’ve asked for those fights and haven’t got them. So what should I do?”

“[The Irish fans] definitely are passionate about their guys, and I don’t know if Twitter has a limit of blocks you can do, but I’ve got to be close to it,” he said. “Because man, I’ve been getting so many hate messages and this and that, and that’s cool. Build him up. It’s going to be that much sweeter when I stand over him. This guy is not who you think he is. I’m the man in this division, and I’ve very confident in my skills and I feel more dangerous than ever.

“This guy said he’s going to take everyone’s head off, well come get it Conor. I’m waiting. I’m ready. I want it to be a five-round fight. I want to show my heart in this fight. I want him to show his. And I’m going to be victorious, I know it.”

Poirier was then asked if he believed “Notorious” was a top ten fighter, to which Dustin responded:

“No, no,” he said. “Not even top ten. I will be the first real fight he’s ever been in.”

“I feel like he’s disrespecting the whole featherweight division, and nobody’s going to step up and put this guy down and shut him up?” he said. “The UFC is my house. I built where I’m at from the ground up, man, and nobody’s going to come in here walking around talking that trash.”

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


Topics:

UFC NEWS