In contrast to Poirier’s lightweight run, McGregor’s appearances were defined by a different sort of graft, the kind inherent in a promotion looking for profits the megastar dropped off the map for years at a time, walking back into main-events and title-fights at a whim, and yet largely justifying that treatment with his performances anyway. He fought hard and he fought often, and he had messier showings (such as the Hooker fight) but always against the best that the UFC had to offer him. Poirier’s later success has been a matter of many things - widening into his frame since his featherweight days, and gaining more than his fair share of durability and power in the process - but the lion’s share of it was just hard graft starting with the Miller fight where Poirier introduced his jab, “The Diamond” went from strength to strength as he ripped his opponents apart in wars of attrition. Dustin Poirier was quite painfully touched by greatness at UFC 178, but no reasonable man entertained the possibility of him touching greatness in return - nor should they have, until he did exactly that. Even the beginnings of their forays into 155 made the same point, as McGregor torched the great Eddie Alvarez while his counterpart was getting cut down by Michael Johnson. The nascent Louisianan was only five years into his career but already had 22 fights, had lost to the two biggest names he’d faced, and getting crushed in 106 seconds seemed to write his fate as the paradoxical fragile banger. McGregor 1 was a true crossroads fight for both men at the time, and both ending up top-contenders didn’t seem particularly likely while Conor McGregor rode a wave of momentum from his debut - a wave that ended up drowning his opponent on the night - Poirier was already uncomfortably close to being a defined action-fighter. It will surely go down as one of the best fights in the history of UFC.McGregor won the first time, and seven years later, Poirier proved to be the one who learned. All the judges scored the contest in favour of Adesanya as he won his first UFC belt. A three-piece combo even dropped Gastelum to the floor in the last round but hooter sounded which singled the end of one of the greatest title fights in UFC history. But no one seemed ready to give as they kept on trading punches, kicks or another other combination at each other. It was in the next rounds that Adesanya came into his own with his trademark body kicks and combinations. Gastelum almost looked like finishing Adesanya off with some powerful and won the first round comfortably. In the first round itself, both Adesanya and Gastelum tried to outwit each other. In the end, we had a new interim middleweight champion who proved his worth to everyone watching the event. It was a difficult task for any fight to topple Poirier vs Holloway 2 but the co-main event of UFC 236 achieved exactly that. Holloway connected on 181 of his 446 attempted significant strikes, while Poirier landed 178 of the 381 significant strikes he threw as it earned a “Fight of the Night” bonus. The judges scored the memorable bout 49-46 in favor of Poirier, who after 22 fights in the UFC, claimed a title. For the next 25 minutes, both Poirier and Holloway proved why they are called championship fighters as they kept on throwing punches in each other’s direction. The UFC 236 main event was for the interim lightweight championship and both the fighters showed what it meant to them. It was exactly what the fans had hoped for. Fans were hoping for a slugfest between two elite fighters. But Max had compiled a 13-match winning streak while becoming the UFC Featherweight Champion. Poirier had got the better of Holloway back then. Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier were facing each other after 6 years. It was one of the most anticipated fights of the year. Munhoz picked up a win over a former champion and moved up big in the rankings. A big right hand landed clean on Cody and sent him opponent crashing to the canvas. Cody may be known as the lethal striker but it was Munhoz who landed the killshot in the fight. Cody and Munhoz kept on throwing haymakers at each other for 4:52 mins as the crowd erupted in applause for the fight. The first round was the most action-packed contest the fans could have hoped for. The fight opened the UFC 235 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and fans were in for a treat. It definitely decreased the stock of Garbrandt but the fans were still excited for his return. Cody was earmarked as a superstar by the UFC before his loss to TJ. Cody (11-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) was facing a dangerous opponent in Pedro Munhoz (18-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC). The former UFC Bantamweight champion was making a return after a loss to TJ Dillashaw in a title fight.
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