Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler disagree on prediction for Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier

Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler remain on a collision course for June 29 at UFC 303, but the UFC 302 main event could serve as a future matchup for either fighter.

Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier in a fight where the Dagestani mauler remains heavily favored to win. Outside of the lone blemish on his résumé — a knockout loss to Adriano Martins back in 2015 — Makhachev rarely drops rounds, much less allows his opponents much chance to beat him.

The odds are stacked against Poirier, but McGregor believes his former foe has just what it takes to pull off the upset and end Makhachev’s title reign.

“I think Dustin can do him,” McGregor said during a recent Duelbits live stream. “I think Dustin does him. Knocks him out.

“I think the things that Makhachev does wrong, the things he’s not good at, he fumbles over his feet, usually early on and falls into shots. He’s been knocked out by a back check hook by a southpaw before inside the UFC. That’s one of Dustin’s best shots. If Dustin’s ever going to do it, it’s going to be this time.”

Chandler has spent nearly 15 minutes in the cage with Poirier as well, having engaged in bloody, back-and-forth battle back with him in 2022. That was actually Chandler’s most recent UFC appearance prior to booking the fight against McGregor.

Chandler has a lot of respect for Poirier and takes no issue with him earning a title shot off a single win over a prospect like Benoit Saint Denis despite getting knocked out by Justin Gaethje this past July. That being said, Chandler feels Makhachev’s wrestling and grappling negates what Poirier does so well on the feet, and that’s really the difference in the fight.

“Good for Dustin,” Chandler told MMA Fighting about Poirier getting the title shot. “Dustin’s done it all in this sport. He’s fought Conor twice. The only thing he hasn’t done yet is wear the UFC gold, and he wants to. I’m glad he got his shot. Honestly, I was hoping Gaethje was going to win and Gaethje was going to get the shot, because I thought Gaethje deserved it more, obviously. I always wanted to see Gaethje wear gold. If it wasn’t me, I wanted to see Gaethje wear gold.

“Do I give [Poirier] a chance? Absolutely. [But] I think Islam’s going to have his number. I think Islam is just better in every area. I think Islam finishes him, honestly.”

While McGregor sees Makhachev potentially struggling with a southpaw like Poirier, Chandler doesn’t think the fight stays standing long enough for that to matter.

He knows from his own personal experience that Poirier doesn’t do very well against wrestling, and Makhachev can attack with a suffocating game plan at UFC 302.

“Honestly, Dustin concedes the takedown a lot,” Chandler said. “He was taken down in numerous fights. I took him down, held him down the entire second round. He’s not a hard guy to take down. It’s not because he’s not athletic and not strong. I think he just fights in a way where he’s very punch heavy, and when the shot comes in, he kind of just concedes to it and he feels like he’s going to scramble out of it. You’re not going to be able to do that against Islam.

“Islam is a human wrecking ball, blanket on top of you too. It will be interesting. Obviously, Dustin and I have some history, but I love that he got the title shot.”

As for McGregor, he knows Poirier is far from infallible so he doesn’t discount Makhachev adding another title defense to his accolades. McGregor just believes Poirier has the right recipe to give Makhachev some problems, and that’s how he expects the fight to play out.

“Obviously Dustin does his things bad also that feed into Makhachev’s strengths,” McGregor said. “It’s going to be a good fight, and let’s see which one shows up. But it’s all to play for. There is no clear favorite in it.

“If you look at Dustin’s last fight, he was getting manhandled by Benoit Saint Denis and he stayed with it and got back to his feet, stayed with it and landed a shot. That’s great experience to be going into this bout. If there’s ever a chance for him to get it done, this will be it.”

Of course, McGregor would love the chance to run it back with Poirier again, especially after their last encounter ended with him suffering a gruesome broken leg. He also has plenty of history with Makhachev’s camp after his heated rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov, so McGregor really wins either way.

“Either/or,” McGregor said of who he’d rather fight between UFC 302’s headliners. “I have history with both. Let’s see how it goes.”