Stephen Thompson explains what Conor McGregor needs to do to beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 264

Stephen Thompson believes Conor McGregor has what it takes to beat Dustin Poirier.

In the main event of UFC 264, McGregor and Poirier will have their highly-anticipated trilogy bout. It’s an intriguing matchup, but many believe McGregor won’t have the ability to change everything he needs to do to beat Poirier. Yet, for Thompson, he thinks the Irishman has what it takes to win this fight as long as he goes back to his karate style and uses his movement.

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“I think the person that has to do more changing of the fighters is definitely Conor. I mean, Dustin Poirier has been fighting pretty much the same way for the longest time,” Thompson said to Submission Radio about McGregor-Poirier 3. He’s got great boxing, you know, good timing, tough as nails, he likes to sit in the pocket, and he’s intelligent. I think he (McGregor) kind of lost something in his last fight. I think it was all the boxing that he was doing. He doesn’t have that movement anymore that you normally saw. Like when he fought Jose Aldo, it was the movement that won him that fight. And he was kind of standing there in front of Dustin Poirier, and he took a lot of low calf kicks, and that’s what settled it, sealed the deal. So, he’s got to get back into moving like a karate guy.

“He’s got to get back into getting on his bike, using that in-and-out movement, switching sides, playing that game if he’s going to go out there and beat him again. Because he can draw out Dustin Poirier’s strikes with his movement,” Thompson continued about McGregor-Poirier 3. “And him being such a good counter puncher, (he) can counter off of that. So out of the two, Conor’s got to get back to that. So, don’t know how hard that is and how long he’s been doing the boxing stuff, but he’s got to get out of that and get back to his movement. If he can do that, Conor can win.”

There is no question Conor McGregor has the skillset to beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Yet, whether or not that will happen is to be seen, but Thompson knows the Irishman can make the necessary changes.

What do you make of Stephen Thompson’s reasoning as to how Conor McGregor beats Dustin Poirier?