Dustin Poirier claims Conor McGregor's eagerness to stage a rematch of their 2014 fight is partly motivated by his hopes of returning to the boxing ring against the legendary Manny Pacquiao next year — something the former two-belt UFC champion later admitted was true.
McGregor halted Poirier in just 1:46 at UFC 178 in Las Vegas six years ago, but the two have had positive exchanges on Twitter in recent weeks about doing it one more time late this year.
The pitch, initiated by the Irishman, revolved around proceeds going to the fighters' respective charitable causes. And since then, UFC president Dana White has indicated that the two contracted competitors can indeed do so under the company umbrella.
Poirier, who beat Dan Hooker via unanimous decision his last time out, told former ESPN commentator, analyst, and boxing trainer Teddy Atlas on his YouTube show "The Fight With Teddy Atlas" that he believes he has figured out McGregor's long-term goal.
"Going back to why he wants this fight … I think he's angling to fight Pacquiao," Poirier explained.
"So I don't know if the UFC wants him to fight one more time before they allow him to fight Pacquiao, or if he just wants to get one more in this year before starting next year with the Pacquiao fight.
"But what better way to do it than another southpaw," he said. "Maybe he wants to fight a southpaw before he fights another southpaw."
After the quotes from the interview did the rounds on social media, McGregor — who has spoken of his great respect for his former opponent, did Poirier the courtesy of being upfront and confirming his suspicions.
"Correct," McGregor said on Twitter. "Southpaw box style. Continue to sharpen my MMA skills with some tough competition, while leading into my Manny bout preparation.
"It's not easy going between both sports and then coming back to the one sport again.
"Just want to keep sharp guys, that's all. It's only fair."
"The Diamond" also said in the interview he feels McGregor may try to use a second win over Poirier to land a rematch with current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has defeated both men.
With Poirier currently ranked second behind Nurmagomedov and No. 1 contender Justin Gaethje, who challenges the undefeated Russian on Oct. 24, he gets an additional sense of being a "gatekeeper" to big 2021 fights.
"Khabib, the current world champion, who is about to defend his belt, said if Conor or Tony [Ferguson] fights me or wins, then he'll give him a title shot, so that's in the back of [McGregor's] head, too," continued the 31-year-old.
"I think that's all creating this perfect storm that he's coming out in public and saying, 'Hey, I want to fight Dustin Poirier this year.'"