5 most hard-hitting predictions for the Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier trilogy fight at UFC 264

#2 Valentina Shevchenko - UFC women's flyweight champion

Valentina Shevchenko

The queen of the UFC women's flyweight division has admitted that she's a bit biased as a huge Conor McGregor fan. Nonetheless, Valentina Shevchenko pointed out what went wrong for the Irishman during the rematch and said she believes he'll find a way to adjust.

"I feel that just maybe for this fight, he was doing too much boxing in his preparation and when the moment came that the hit landed from Dustin, in MMA you would go for a clinch, you would try to have a little bit more time to recover and get back on your feet. But in boxing you are trying to escape and move around.

"I definitely believe he would make adjustments but I think it's gonna be a very good fight. But Dustin Poirier is a very strong fighter and now his amazing success gave him much more confidence. Much more power and energy.

"So it's like when two fighters of a high level meet each other, it's very hard to predict the result. But like I said, my sympathies go to Conor McGregor."

Official Pick: Conor McGregor

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#1 Chael Sonnen - Former UFC light heavyweight and middleweight

Chael Sonnen

According to former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen, McGregor will live and die by his ability to defend against Dustin Poirier's calf kicks. 'The American Gangster' said-

"Step one – and we saw this with our own eyes but we'll also listen to Conor (McGregor), we'll take Conor's opinion for it – the calf kick. Problematic. Can Conor stop that? There's only a couple of ways you can defend a calf kick. One, you could just bring it up and block.

"Let me tell you about a night. Tim Sylvia became the champion of the world because Rico Rodriguez threw a kick. And while Rico was on one foot, Tim threw one straight down the middle and knocked him out. That's the other defense to a kick.

"There's two things he can do. There's no other things created. He can check the kick or he can respond to the kick. There's no other technique that's been created. The question becomes: How does Poirier set it up? And that's not a question for us to answer. That's a question for Conor."

Official Pick: Conor McGregor