A BAD NIGHT FOR THE NOTORIOUS MMA

By: Allan Ly
RP Show Intern

UFC 264 Saturday night was, as anticipated, a thriller at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But not with the result anyone could’ve expected.

Conor “ The Notorious One” McGregor (22-6) and Dustin “ The Diamond” Poirier (28-6, 1NC) fought for the third time in what was billed a Trilogy match. Each had beaten the other in the prior two meetings.

McGregor got the first win when he knocked out Poirier, while in the second fight, Poirier returned the favour when he knocked out McGregor.

Poirier won the trilogy fight Saturday night when McGregor’s ankle was broken in the first round.

This injury happened when McGregor pivoted awkwardly during the fight, and his leg folded backwards from the pressure.

Now, this was disappointing for the third fight, but it is most likely that Poirier will fight Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira for the lightweight title.

As for McGregor, he will have a long journey ahead of him, and if he returns, I hope he fights Nate Diaz for the third time.

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The fight card of UFC 264 started off with Sean “Sugar” O’ Malley(14-1), who managed to stop Khris Moutino(9-5) in the third round with a TKO.

O’Malley dominated throughout the fight and outmatched the newcomer Moutinho. Unfortunately, I expected more from O’Malley, and I was surprised it took him to the third round to finish Moutinho.

The fight was marred with controversy as many believed the ref Herb Dean stopped the fight too early.

I am happy that O’Malley won the fight, and now he is on a two-fight winning streak after losing to Marlon “ Chito” Vera in 2020, which was his first loss in his career.

During his post-fight interview, O’Malley called out Petr Yan, Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz.

Even though O’Malley called out Yan, the fight will unlikely happen because Yan is most likely next in line for a title shot.

After that fight, we got Irene Aldana ( 13-6) vs Yana Kunitskaya(14-6, 1NC) in the Women’s Bantamweight Division.

Aldana emphatically won in round one by ground and pound and kept her number four ranking in the Women Bantamweight Division.

Now it is the battle of the Heavyweights with Tai Tuivasa (13-3) vs former NFL star Greg Hardy(7-4).

Tuivasa knocked out Hardy in the first round after they threw hands, and Tuivasa connected with a huge punch for the win.

Not sure what is going to happen with Hardy, as this was his second straight finish loss in a row.

The Co-Main Event is up next, and that is Stephen “ Wonder Boy” Thompson(16-5, 1NC) vs Gilbert “Durinho” Burns(20-4).

Burns comes with the decisive unanimous decision victory over Thompson.

Unfortunately Burns’s superior wrestling was no match for Thompson throughout the fight.

With that fight, Burns will keep his ranking as number two in the Welterweight division and does not move down in the rankings.

In his post-fight interview, Burns called out Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.

With Thompson losing, his title shot aspirations are diminished and will have to go on a big winning streak to be considered again.

My favourite fight of the card has to go with Niko Price(14-5) and Michel Pereira(26-11, 2NC) in the preliminary fight card.

Pereira won by unanimous decision as his superior striking was shown throughout, and Price was no match.

(Follow Allan Ly on Twitter at @AllanTheIntern)