Conor McGregor shared a surprising congratulatory message for rival Dustin Poirier after his victory at UFC 299.
Poirier returned to the octagon for last Saturday’s thrilling card and secured an emphatic knockout victory over Benoit Saint-Denis in the second-round.
In doing so, the American lightweight got back to winning ways having been defeated by Justin Gaethje in a bout for the BMF title in July last year.
It was his fifth win inside the cage since 2020, with two of those coming against McGregor as they put to bed a thrilling trilogy.
Despite Poirier taking the bragging rights from their fights, McGregor evidently holds no grudges towards ‘The Diamond’, as he congratulated him on the win.
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Conor McGregor shared a congratulatory message for Dustin Poirier after his UFC 299 victory
Poirier and McGregor have clashed three times in the octagon – with the latter winning twice
Despite the rivalry, McGregor was quick to congratulate Poirier regarding his recent victory
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, McGregor wrote: ‘Great fight out of them French boys tonight! Toutes nos félicitations’.
During his post-fight press conference, Poirier was then asked about McGregor’s post, to which he said: ‘He felt that right hook, too’.
In their second bout, which came in January 2021, Poirier land a right-hook that sent McGregor crashing to the canvas before the American delivered some heavy blows to finish the fight.
Similarly, it was the right-hook that won him the fight with Saint-Denis in the second-round of their bout.
The American initially landed a left-hand which staggered his opponent before attempting to perform a standing guillotine choke on the Frenchman.
Once Saint-Denis broke out of that, Poirier went back to searching for the knockout and found it just moments later after his right-hook landed flush.
In his post-fight press conference, Poirier reminded fans that McGregor ‘felt that right hook’
Similarly to his second fight with McGregor back in January 2021, Poirier landed a right-hook that sent Benoit Saint-Denis crashing to the canvas and earned himself victory on the night
Elsewhere on the night, Sean ‘Suga’ O’Malley successfully defended his bantamweight title in the main event after outclassing rival Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
O’Malley had been handed his first and only defeat in MMA by Chito back in 2020, but a repeat never looked likely as he produced a dominant display at the Kaseya Centre.
The American brutally caught his challenger with a knee in the second round, with Chito somehow withstanding the blow to remain in the contest.
Chito produced his best shot of the night in the final seconds of the fifth round, but it proved too late with O’Malley having delivered a complete performance across the 25 minute contest.
