"My sympathies go to Conor McGregor" - Valentina Shevchenko gives her assessment of the Irishman's trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier

Valentina Shevchenko appears to have a soft spot for Conor McGregor ahead of his UFC 264 outing against Dustin Poirier. 'Bullet' said her sympathies will go with the Irishman in his trilogy fight with Poirier because he lost the rematch at UFC 257.

Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier are set to collide for the third time in their careers at the main event of UFC 264. The card is scheduled to take place on July 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

When asked about the likely winner of the UFC 264 headliner, the Kyrgyzstani steered clear from making an official prediction. Shevchenko said that although McGregor will make the right adjustments, predicting the result of a fight of this magnitude is not easy.

"I definitely believe he would do adjustments and I think it's going to be a very good fight, but Dustin Poirier, he is a very strong fighter. After this amazing success, it gave him much more confidence, much more power, much more energy. When two fighters of the super high level are meeting each other, it's very hard to predict the result, but my sympathies go to Conor McGregor."

While explaining what McGregor probably did wrong in his rematch with Poirier, Shevchenko suggested that the Irishman's over-reliance on boxing cost him the fight.

"I felt like in this fight (at UFC 257), he (McGregor) was doing too much boxing in his preparation," Shevchenko told MMA journalist James Lynch. "The moment when the hit landed from Dustin (Poirier), it was just like the kind of... in MMA, you would go for a clinch, you would try to have a little bit time to recover and get back on your feet. But in boxing, you are trying to escape and move around," she added.

Watch Shevchenko talk about Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3:

Conor McGregor will be in a must-win situation at UFC 264

UFC 257 Poirier v McGregor: Weigh-Ins

Despite Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3 being a non-title bout, it is still one of the biggest fights of the Irishman's career. The 32-year-old has never lost two lost fights in a row, and that distinction will be at stake when he steps into the octagon at UFC 264.

If the former UFC lightweight champion suffers another loss to Poirier, his stock in the promotion could slump significantly.

Poirier, on the other hand, is riding high on his remarkable back-to-back wins over Dan Hooker and McGregor.