Dustin Poirier wins UFC 264 after Conor McGregor breaks leg: fight recap

Dustin Poirier beat Conor McGregor at UFC 264 after a dominant ground and pound performance in the first round ended in chaos as Conor fell awkwardly on his leg and broke it. 

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• UFC 264 comes to an abrupt end after McGregor breaks leg in first round against Poirier
• Dustin dominated the fight up until that point, but Conor claimed it wasn’t over between them

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It was meant to be one of the biggest bouts in recent history — a rematch between two rivals, both with their legacies cemented, but plenty more to prove.

However, UFC 264 ended in chaos after McGregor awkwardly fell backward and broke his leg right at the end of the first round.

Poirier claimed McGregor sustained the injury earlier in the fight. “He fractured it in one of the checks earlier in the fight and it broke on a punch,” he said. “When I pointed at it at the beginning of the fight, that’s when he did it. I felt something. He was kicking me hard.”

There appeared to be no sign of damage to the leg. But when Conor stood up after being pinned to the ground for more than two minutes, he fell back on his own ankle and bent it before collapsing to the ground in pain.

McGregor insisted it was an unfortunate accident and said it “isn’t over” between them. “This is not over! If I have to take this outside with him, it’s on outside. I don’t give a bollocks,” he said.

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He also took the time to dish out some trash talk. “Your wife is in my DMs,” he screamed. “Hey, baby! Hit me back and we’ll chat to you later on. You’re looking good, you little h**.”

Twitter reacts to Poirier’s UFC 264 TKO win

UFC great Daniel Cormier described the unfortunate incident as “crazy” and pointed out the irony of McGregor saying he’d send Porier home on a stretcher, only to leave the arena on one himself.

Jeremy Stephens, a formidable UFC fighter in his own right who was subject to McGregor’s famous “who the fook is that guy?” line, also pointed out the irony.

And of course, Former Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomev, was quick to throw shade at his bitter rival.

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“Good always defeats evil,” he said, implying that McGregor is evil. He also said he was “very happy” for Poirier to end the trilogy with a win.

Floyd Mayweather also thanked Poirier for “getting [him] paid” after revealing that he bet $50,000 on him to win.

The extra $35,000 he won isn’t much for him in the grand scheme of things, especially after his insane payout for beating Logan Paul. However, it’s not a bad turnaround.

What’s next for McGregor?

McGregor insisted that a rematch was on the cards. But how plausible is that given that he’s officially lost the trilogy? Plus, the winner was promised that their next fight would be against current lightweight champion Charles Oliveira for a chance to win the title.

UFC Dana White said both things are true. “Dustin Poirier will fight for the title and when Conor is healed and ready to go, we’ll do the rematch,” he said. He also described Conor’s injury as “brutal” and “not the way you want to see fights end.”

Conor McGregor v Dustin Poirier UFC 264 watch along VOD

Dexerto did a live watchalong on Twitch alongside Wicked Good Games, and we’ve handily embedded the VOD for you right here to relive all the action — with some great banter along the way.

UFC 264 fight card results

Here are the results of all the bouts at UFC 264:

Main Card

• Dustin Poirier beat Conor McGregor by TKO (Lightweight)
• Gilbert Burns beat Stephen Thompson by Decision (Welterweight)
• Tai Tuivasa beat Greg Hardy by KO (Heavyweight)
• Irene Aldana beat Yana Kunitskaya by TKO (Women’s bantamweight)
• Sean O’Malley beat Kris Moutinho by TKO (Bantamweight)

Prelims

• Max Griffin beat Carlos Condit by Decision (Welterweight)
• Michel Pereira beat Niko Price by Decision (Welterweight)
• Ilia Topuria beat Ryan Hall by TKO (Men’s featherweight)
• Dricus du Plessis beat Trevin Giles by TKO (Middleweight)

Early Prelims

• Jennifer Maia beat Jessica Eye by Decision (Women’s flyweight)
• Brad Tavares beat Omari Akhmedov by Decision (Middleweight)
• Zhalgas Zhumagulov beat Jerome Rivera by Submission (Men’s flyweight)