MMA Fighting - Reaction: Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 Press Conference

Episode Date: July 9, 2021

Following a fiery UFC 264 press conference between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Jose Youngs and Alexander K. Lee give their reactions to the back and forth between the two fighters, discuss if anyone got the edge in the mental warfare, the first staredown ahead of Saturday’s trilogy fight, and more.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Follow Alexander K. Lee: @AlexanderKLee Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. A little less than six months after exchanging pleasantries on Fight Island, their UFC 257 battle, the vibe is certainly different ahead of the trilogy fight between Dustin Porre and Connor McGregor, which goes down this Saturday at UFC 264 at the sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Happy Thursday night, everybody. Happy UFC 24 Eve, Eve. Now there'll be plenty of time to discuss the X's and O's of this third meeting between Porre and McGregor

before those two gentlemen make the walk on Saturday night. But both men were on the same stage for the UFC 264 press conference, which just wrapped up a little while ago as we record this broadcast right now. It was wild. It was a slew of different adjectives in describing this press conference. And that's what we're going to talk about right now here on M.A.finding.com. I am Mike Keck. We have the Prince of Positivity, Alex K. Lee. We got Jose Young's joining us. And the latter part of this equation, Mr. Young's, and that beautiful shirt, was actually in the building live for the festivities, asked some questions. So, Jose, let us begin with you because the last time we talked about a press conference, you said something that has been sort of

engulfed in my brain. You said after being at the UFC 263 press conference in Glendale, I thought it was like the most ridiculous thing ever. But you being there, you said that craziness, it was one of the more memorable pressers that you had been to. It got you even more jazz for that events than you even could have imagined it could have gotten for you. Did this one have the same kind of effect at all, seeing Dustin and Connor have their back and forth, most of the aggression, most of the verbal offense, if you will, came from McGregor. Like, did it have

anything close to the same impact as the 263 presser for you? Not even a little bit. It's a good question. It's a good comparison, but I just felt like Connor was going through the greatest hits. Like, he was just regurgitating a lot of like, I'm going to put my fist through his face. I'm going to dribble his head off the canvas.

He's a walking corpse. Like, you started getting them to chant Jolie's wife, which is just I don't understand that when at all. Like, even the media was like, I'm very confused by this channel right now. I just felt like he was grasping. Maybe that's just Connor trying to psych himself into the fight.

I don't know. I'm not in the mind of Conn McGregor, but the crowd was red hot, obviously. There were fans like all around. Like we were in the center and fans basically shoehorned around us. So they were fans on the side and the back of us. And they were going absolutely bananas whenever Con McGregor even made a move.

Like we were asking questions and the media was getting booed when they would ask Dustin Porre a question. So the crowd was red hot, but in terms of what I witnessed on the stage, U.C. 263 was very memorable in what happens between the fighters. I think this fight, this press comments,

UC's four press comments, was memorable, but for the wrong reasons. I just felt like it just felt bizarre that Connor was yelling at this individual in Dustin Poirier, and Dustin was not having any of it. Remember, Israel Adasanya and Marvin

Figuero, Figuero and Moreno, they were kind of going back and forth. There was really none of that. Like there was some, a little bit from Dustin Poy, maybe a little more than we've seen in the past few weeks, but it was basically just Connor yelling at a man and Dustin Pore just laughing at him. A.K., you were the Prince of Positivity, and not long ago, we were on Between the Links,

and we spoke about your feeling towards this fight, this event, your excitement levels, and one of the big pieces to this puzzle that had been missing from the proverbial box, so to speak, was this press conference, and what would come out of it. So Connor was kind of turned up, as the kids say. Porier said he didn't let any of it bother him.

And we'll talk about that in a minute. But did this press conference do anything for you in terms of how much you want to see this fight? Like, did it move the needle at all for you? For me personally, no. But in this circumstance, I do feel like I'm not representative of who this press conference was for. I mean, I think that's obvious. But I'm going to be positive. I'm going to be positive here and say what I thought the good takeaways from this are.

If you were a fan, if you're a fan of McGregor or if you're a fan of Porriere, I don't see how you couldn't be more amped after this press conference to want to see these two guys fight on Saturday. Like because if you're McGreg, like Jose said it perfectly, he played the greatest hits. McGregor played the greatest hits. He also threw in some, you'll do nothing. You know, that's a deeper cut. That's a deeper album cut, but that's a big one. If you're a big McGregor head, that's one they talk about all the time.

that's kind of like an encore song. So he played the greatest hits. When he tried to do the new, again, and like a popular band, when he tried to do some of the new stuff, I don't know how much it landed. Like actually, I want to ask Jose, Jose, the Jolie's wife chant, how much legs did that have?

Did that actually go on for a bit? Because on the broadcast, it went on. The fans, it didn't like, it wasn't a prolonged chant, but when he started it, it was very audible. Like, it was echoing through the arena. But as soon as Connor stops, the rest of the crowd stops.

They tried to pick it up again as they went on, but the initial beginning of it absolutely had legs. It was very, again, it was a very baffling situation. But also, it's also sad when you have to start the chant like that. I feel like McGregor, maybe he's done in the previous press conferences, and I don't remember, when you have to kind of do the, all right, guys, Jolie's wife, like, when you have to start the chant yourself, it loses a bit of its punch.

But again, if you're a fan of McGregor, as you just, like, again, you're right, Jose, then you're totally into it. you're super excited. It's like, yeah, he gave us a new chat, yeah. So, yeah, maybe I'm wrong in the new material not landing. But either way, if you don't like McGregor, you probably weren't sold on this. If you like him, you loved every minute of it. And same with Porriere.

If you're a fan of Porriere, you love that he played it cool, that he'll kind of only threw in the occasional verbal jab. If you don't like Porier, then you're, you know, you're in the McGregor's side. You're like, oh, McGregor killed him. He didn't even respond. He doesn't have his own catchphrases. He doesn't have everything snappy to say. So, yeah, I think both fan bases were happy.

I'm just assuming. Both fan bases were happy with how their guy represented himself. But as a kind of mostly, in a mostly objective observer, I was not any more thrilled. I didn't think it was a great press conference. But I think both guys gave the people what they want. So, again, I might be in the minority here. I do want to add the fans actually did start a few of their own chance even before the fighters came out. and they were all about Dustin Porre's hot sauce, all of them.

I can't say them on air because then we will get demonetized. I can't. We will get demonetized. That's fine. That's fine. It was nothing like Dustin, your hot sauce is bad. Like, it was way worse than that. It was that, except it was much more colorful language.

Fair enough. There is one thing, and I'm just going to get this out of the way, because I know we're all thinking it right now, that drives you crazy about these pressers and it's getting worse and worse. Some of the media members in attendance that are allowed to actually have a live microphone on their hands, good God, man. Like, it was bad. And I'm not trying to sit up here on a high horse or anything.

But just because you're there doesn't mean you have to ask a question. I thought, Jose, you did a great job. There are people there, like, who got a microphone that were asking questions, like, actively rooting for Connor. There's another media member that's actively, like, calling out Connor on the other end, like chastising him. like the UFC, the members of the media, mostly outside of the MMA bubble, this is a rough performance, especially the last 10 to 15 minutes of this thing. Luckily, Brian Campbell kind of like saved everything at the end, but that's just something that kind of irked me.

And you could tell that Poria and McGregor were both kind of fed up with the whole thing at the end of it because of some of the questions they were getting. So I've said my piece. We'll move on. Everyone's been talking about this. That's my two cents on the whole thing. But clearly part of this approach from Congress, Connor, AK, was to irk Porreier or like try to get under his skin and get him emotional. And Dustin had some good one-liners mixed in there to fire back at Connor.

He did his best to kind of keep a smile in his face. But, AK, I mean, you're watching on your computer, on your television, you're seeing all the different angles. You're seeing them close up. Did you get any sense that McGregor rattled Porre in any way? I don't know. Rattled. That's definitely impossible for me to say, but annoyed. I don't see how you can't be a little bit annoyed.

Again, I know Pori has been through this twice already. Maybe it was worse the first time, you know, what happened like seven years ago. But I just don't see how even having gone through it already. He can't be a little bit, like, if not personally insulted, but just the nonstop, like, needling. I know I'm someone who I can ignore what someone's saying. But the very fact that they're trying to needle me and get a rise out of me, it works. It's like the person probably tell my. my blood's getting a bit, you know what, my face is getting red or whatever.

I'm not half the man Dustin Porre he is, but I bet, again, but when you're on that big of a stage, you've got people booing you for like no reason. Again, like Jose said, like, just because a question would be asked at him and that people start booing, like, you're, I don't know how as a mature, intelligent adult, you can take that and just, and just be like, oh, yeah, I'm just going to shrug it off. No, there's that, he's in the middle of a weight cut. That's the other thing I thought is, is I was kind of looking at, like, man, And this is the last thing he wants to be dealing with right now.

You know, it's, I know, I know 155 is his bad as coming down to 145, but it's still a weight cut. You know, it's not a good time. And then he has to put up with all this extra crap. So I don't know of any line in particular, like, and I think that Jolie's wife was so silly. And I guess we just stopped putting it up. But I don't know if any particular narrative or line really got to him. I thought, I thought Pori had the best line when they were like, why is it, why is he so different this time around? and Porter just like, well, because I knocked him out last time.

So all clashes this is out the window, the guy's got to, I thought that was the best line. And it's not even trying to be clever. It's just true. So I thought that was the best bit. But I do think that McGregor is getting under his skin a little bit, not just because for being clever or for being particularly incisive, but just the sheer level, the sheer volume of it, I think, I think Boris is a little ticked off. Jose, what do you think? Like, I know you felt like, you know, just in hindsight that Porre wasn't really affected by the trash talk, but maybe the combination of the trash talk, the length of the press conference,

Pori isn't very public. He hates doing these things, especially in the buildup to a fight, especially after going through the first fight with Connor. Connor can win these fights days before the actual event with the mental warfare. Connor just knows how to, you know, kind of poke and prod and get that advantage. Do you feel like Dustin was rattled all? And on the flip side, do you feel like? Dustin got to McGregor at all with some of his retorts and his one-liners and, you know,

it's not McGregor fast, McGregor's sleep. I thought that was a great line too. But did you see like any of those guys get rattled at all? I wouldn't say rattled. I thought maybe for a bit, right before the stare-downs that maybe Dustin Porre did was a little rattled or Connor got his head a bit. But then when they got face-to-face and Connor was doing all of the antics and Dustin was just like standing there kind of chuckling to himself.

and then Connor threw a front kick at Dustin Porre during the face off and Dustin didn't just took it. He was just like, all right, whatever. Like he didn't like try to rush at him or anything. Really the only thing he says is if you come at me, I'm going to slap you in the face. Like that's all pretty much he said. So Connor front kicked him.

Dustin just kind of looked down and was like, okay, and walked away. So I don't know. I'm not in either of their minds. Again, maybe this is Connor trying to psych himself out or maybe it's more for him rather than to get at Dustin. he needs to get into that mindset. I'm not trying to get into the mind of Connemaguerre or it doesn't pour it. This is all just speculation.

But from the outside looking in, just what I saw there from that stare down, I don't think either man is quite rattled. I think they're both just ready for a fist fight. And it's nothing overly personal. It's just build up to the fight. So just to put a ball on this, Jose, how would you grade the first face off for this trilogy fight? Like we'll see another one tomorrow, the ceremony away ins.

But this was kind of intense. the front kick and, you know, the sunglasses, Connors were in the suit, Dustin's wearing the Florida shirt, so to speak. What did you think? Like, give that face off a letter grade. B plus. It's not the best Dustin Poe face off and it's not the best Connor McGregor face off. So I don't even think it's the best face off of their trilogy. I mean, how many times have we seen that that media day face off before that first one? I think it was like, the UFC 172, not 172, I can't 178 or something back in like September 2014 or whatever. And even the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, ceremonial, like it wasn't even ceremonial wanes at the time, the regular wayans when Dustin is

yelling at the fans and everything, those are the two best. And then after that, like, the hot sauce kind of gimmick for their first time and them getting nose to nose on Fight Island, this wasn't even in their top three face off. So I'll say B plus. What do you think, AK, B plus, higher, lower? What do you, that's the mark. Are we going higher or lower than B plus? No, B plus is on the spot. I think, I think we'll see a little more. I assume there's our ceremonials. I think they'll be a little more for a ceremonyals on Friday.

That, man, that stupid little kick was just so, it was, I mean, you knew it was coming, you knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. Oh, gosh,

it was so, how close was he to kicking him in the groin, do you think? Close. Like, I don't think he had to do it on purpose. I think as he kicked, there was kind of like the pull away,

the fallback. and I think like he really almost kicked him in the grind. But I have to assume that wasn't intentional because that would be even for McGregor and even for the UFC, that would be beyond the pale. But yeah, the kick did not help things. The B plus is for everything else. It's like, as like Jose said, you know, sort of the intensity and maybe connor's side of it and Porre's non-reaction. But yeah, I think we'll see a better one tomorrow. Maybe not better than B-plus.

Again, this is the third fight between the two. I don't know how much of a genuinely like powerful faceoff we can see at this point. But hey, maybe they'll put me wrong. Maybe they'll really shock us tomorrow with how they present themselves the face off. But I don't know. Listen to me, such a jaded journalist. Well, you at least got a little taste from one half of the new BTL tag team champions, aka giving it a B plus.

And we get a little tease, a little nugget of what's to come ahead of Saturday night. Of course, we have the best way-in show in MMA hosted by the great Alexander K. Lee kicking off around noon-easter time tomorrow, which is Friday. Then we'll be live for the Ceremony of Wayans and Face Off. So we'll be a preview show, a pre-fight show, post-fight coverage, all of your results, news, highlights, winter scrums throughout the night on Saturday, live from Las Vegas, all in one spot right here on MMATFighting.com. The press conference between Dustin Pori and Connor McGregor is in the books for Jose, for AK, I am Mike Heck. Thank you for watching. and we will see you on Friday. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.