Conor McGregor proved he was the real deal by bouncing Dustin Poirier’s head off the floor in famous 106-second KO win

Conor McGregor silenced his doubters with a rapid knockout win in September 2014.

‘Notorious’ had captured two titles in Cage Warriors and beaten three people, including Max Holloway, in the UFC before being matched up with fellow featherweight contender Dustin Poirier.

As he often does, McGregor goaded his opponent ahead of the fight and enjoyed annoying ‘The Diamond’, who was caught on camera talking about how much he dislikes the Irishman.

Despite the fact he won the mental match, many people thought ‘Notorious’ would have his hype train derailed by Poirier – but that’s not how things played out in the first of their three fights inside the Octagon.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesConor McGregor made it look easy against Dustin Poirier at UFC 178Full of confidence, McGregor immediately McGregor opened with a hook kick and spinning attacks while barking insults at his opponent.

Poirier landed a few decent leg kicks and caught the eye with a couple of strikes upstairs before McGregor cracked him with a heavy punch that signalled the beginning of the end.

A few seconds later, ‘Mystic Mac’ landed another left hand behind his opponent’s ear to drop him.

Poirier tried to recover but he got his head bounced off the canvas by four pinpoint ground strikes before veteran referee Herb Dean stepped in to save him from taking any more punishment.

“Wow! That’s the real deal ladies and gentlemen,” UFC commentator Joe Rogan said as McGregor was celebrating at UFC 178.

“Make no mistake about it, Conor McGregor is for real.

“He really did just make it look easy.

“I mean, that was just glorious the way he did that. No one has ever done that to Poirier before. Poirier is protesting it, but it was an absolutely legitimate stoppage, he was out.

“McGregor is the real deal, man, there’s no doubt about it.”

Dustin Poirier got revenge against Conor McGregor seven years laterMcGregor continued to prove he was the real deal by knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win the featherweight title before breezing by lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez to become the UFC’s first dual-weight champion

The 36-year-old was almost bigger than the sport in 2017 when he crossed over to boxing and made $100million to fight Floyd Mayweather.

McGregor has never looked the same since. Still, he was expected to beat Poirier when they rematch in January 2021.

The pair had a much friendlier build-up to their UFC 257 main event, which saw Poirier utilize calf kicks to immobilize McGregor before knocking him out inside two rounds.

A tiebreaker trilogy bout was booked for July, but this time there was plenty of heat between the two men after they fell out over an alleged unpaid charity pledge.

Poirier battered McGregor in the first round and seemed to be on his way to conclusively ending their rivalry before the biggest star in MMA history suffered a freak injury.

McGregor broke his leg and lost the fight by TKO, but he insists the defeat is not legitimate and a section of fans that agree with him have been calling for a rematch ever since.

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Conor McGregor’s last Octagon appearance in 2021 had him leaving on a stretcher by the end of the night due to a broken leg.When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC?McGregor hasn’t fought since his last fight with Poirier, even though his broken leg is fully healed, and he’s been calling for a return bout for some time.

Michael Chandler was supposed to welcome him back to MMA at UFC 303 in June, but McGregor broke his pinky toe in training and opted to withdraw from the contest.

Rather than wait for a new date, Chandler has agreed to take a rematch with Charles Oliveira, who previously knocked him out to win the lightweight title, at UFC 309 on November 16.

Now he’s considering other options for his first fight in well over three years.

“We are looking for the date,” McGregor told The Schmo.

“I’d like to square it away with Michael Chandler. You know, I’d like to get Chandler in, we’ve had our beef, and it’s not settled. He has a match scheduled. I would like to fight before he’s recovered.

“There’s a few names in the line at the minute. There’s a few names being discussed.”

It seems highly likely that Poirier is one of the fighters being considered. The Louisiana native is the biggest name available to McGregor after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement and Nate Diaz’s decision to leave the UFC.

Only time will tell if McGregor and Poirier will settle their rivalry by fighting one more time.