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The American Top Team standout will rematch former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Conor McGregor in the UFC 257 headliner this Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. There, Poirier will attempt to avenge his 2014 technical knockout loss to the Irishman. He has rattled off five wins in six outings and last appeared at UFC on ESPN 12 on June 27, when he took a five-round unanimous decision from Dan Hooker in a “Fight of the Year” contender. McGregor, meanwhile, last competed at UFC 246, where he needed just 40 seconds to bring down Donald Cerrone with a head kick and follow-up punches a little more than a year ago.
As Poirier and McGregor make final preparations for their hotly anticipated sequel, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Poirier, who was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Jan. 19, 1989. The Top 5 movies at the domestic box office at the time were “Rain Man,” “Twins,” “Beaches,” “The Accidental Tourist” and “Working Girl.”
18: UFC wins under Poirier’s belt, tying him with Frankie Edgar, Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway for 10th on the promotion’s all-time list. They trail the aforementioned Cerrone (23), Demian Maia (22), Jim Miller (21), Michael Bisping (20), Georges St. Pierre (20), Jon Jones (20), Andrei Arlovski (19), Diego Sanchez (19) and Rafael dos Anjos (19).
7: Poirier victories by submission, accounting for 27% of his professional total. His methods of choice: three armbars, two brabo chokes, one body triangle and one triangle armbar. Poirier holds 12 other wins by knockout or technical knockout.
.734: Cumulative winning percentage between the six men—McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Michael Johnson, Cub Swanson, Chan Sung Jung and Danny Castillo—who have defeated Poirier. They own a combined record of 130-47.
3: Fights in which Poirier has landed at least 100 significant strikes. He connected with 153 of them against Hooker, 178 of them in a unanimous decision over Max Holloway at UFC 236 on April 13, 2019 and 174 of them in a fourth-round technical knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC on Fox 29 on April 14, 2018.
32: Years of age for McGregor, who was born on July 14, 1988 in Dublin, Ireland.
1.95: Knockdowns per 15 minutes in UFC competition for McGregor. It stands as the eighth-highest rate in company history behind Drew McFedries (4.27), Todd Duffee (2.91), Abdul Razak Alhassan (2.24), Michael Oleksiejczuk (2.10), Shane Carwin (2.03), Johnny Walker (1.99) and Khalil Rountree (1.97).
19: McGregor wins by knockout or technical knockout, providing him with 86% of his career total (22). His list of victims includes Cerrone, Poirier, Eddie Alvarez, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. McGregor owns one other victory by submission, having tapped Dave Hill with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 47 pairing in 2012.
4: Seconds needed for McGregor to punch out Paddy Doherty at Immortal Fighting Championship 4 on April 6, 2011. One of four sub-minute stoppage wins on the Irishman’s resume, it remains the fastest finish if his 26-fight career.
10: Post-fight bonuses banked by McGregor across his 12 appearances in the UFC. He has been awarded “Performance of the Night” seven times, “Fight of the Night” twice and “Knockout of the Night” once, resulting in $510,000 of additional income.