UFC 264 is in the books, and the trilogy between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier has been completed. It was the same end result as their second bout six months ago, but Poirier was far more dominant this time around. In a round that most people expected McGregor to be strongest in, Poirier landed shots, made him want to grapple, then continued to overwhelm him on the ground.
In the final seconds of a completely dominant opening round for Poirier, McGregor broke his ankle. The fight was stopped in between rounds, and an irate McGregor kept shouting and threatening to kill Poirier as he was injured on the ground, insulting his wife again, and blaming his injury for the loss.
Here’s a quick twitter thread with a brief recap and analysis of the event, that’s fitting for people’s social media era attention spans:
RYAN HALL TKO’D BY TOPURIA
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Timing those imanari rolls were nice!
CONS: Not sure if it’s age, ring rust, or just facing a far superior athlete, but Hall looked slower and couldn’t move the same. His style was bound to be figured out, and it seemed to happen today.
GRIFFIN DECISIONS CONDIT
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Griffin had a strong first round, then Condit did far better in the latter rounds, but it was a fair and proper decision.
CONS: Condit looked sooooo slow. Father Time is undefeated. https://t.co/ubTb5PnnwE
O’MALLEY TKO’S MOUTINHO
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Moutinho is one tough mad man. 10 days notice, much smaller, & outgunned, he still brought it.
CONS: Stoppage was booed. Terrible matchmaking. It’s VERY hard to look good if everyone expects you to annihilate your opponent https://t.co/rHTmSvnTC9
ALDANA DESTROYS KUNITSKAYA
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Slick finish. I thought it could’ve been a mistake to not let her up, but Aldana worked well and got a nice GNP finish.
CONS: It didn’t go too long, so none.
TUIVASA KOs GREG HARDY
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Spice Girls walkout. Brutal KO over Greg Hardy. Shooey on top of the cage. Shooeys with the crowd. Big moment on a big card for Tuivasa.
CONS: NONE!!!
BURNS DECISIONS WONDERBOY
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Very competitive, very fun fight. Wonderboy had nice kicks and good takedown defense. Burns’ fake leg trip to set up a takedown was also so slick.
CONS: Some of the crowd booed, but I enjoyed the tactical match up and clash of styles.
POIRIER TKOs MCGREGOR
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Don’t let injury distract you. Poirier was the superior fighter. Figured out Conor, dominated in the one round he's strong in. Made him a grappler early too. Slick sequence: Calf kick made Conor switch,then DP pounced as his left wouldn’t be effective
MGREGOR "ALWAYS CLASSY IN DEFEAT”?
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
CONS: I’m surprised he ever got this rep. There was not a single loss where he didn’t have an excuse or flat out made ridiculous lies. He was dominated, but threw a tantrum and acted as if he got cheated out of a win. https://t.co/ipcKNroiHn
#UFC264 OVERALL
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) July 11, 2021
PROS: Fun and DEEP card. Poirier vs Oliveira should be awesome!
CONS: Vets Condit, Hall & Wonderboy all lost. McGregor going after Poirier’s wife again. Not a fan of boxing analysts being part of sports they don’t know much about https://t.co/bqMSkWQa2q
And that’s about it. For more social media musings, follow me on twitter over at @antontabuena, and of course you should do that for Bloody Elbow’s official twitter account as well.