Everything you need to know about UFC 264 Poirier vs. McGregor 3

ACC UFC resident expert Felix Heath-Collins with everything you need to know ahead of UFC 264 Poirier vs. McGregor 3!

Big fights are back this weekend with the UFC 264 PPV (Pay-Per-View), which is headlined by the massive trilogy bout between top lightweight fighter Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier and Irish MMA superstar "The Notorious" Conor McGregor.

At the top of this stacked deck of a fight card Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier (27-6) (wins-losses) faces "The Notorious" Conor McGregor (22-5) for the third time. This 'rubber match' will determine who will win their overall trilogy of fights together. Both are in their fighting primes at only 32 years old each (with McGregor 6 months older), Poirier has a clear advantage in the way of MMA experience. That's because McGregor left the sport in his prime (at the age of 28) to pursue a boxing bout against then 40-year-old Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr., a fight which reportedly earned McGregor $130,000,000

The resumes of these two are impeccable.

Dustin Poirier has an extensive UFC career that involves victories over Max "Blessed" Holloway twice, Diego Ferreira, Joe Duffy, Bobby "King" Green, Jim "A-10" Miller, Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, Justin "The Highlight" Gaethje, Eddie "The Underground King" Alvarez, Dan "The Hangman" Hooker, and Conor "The Notorious" McGregor. While McGregor has delivered combat sports masterpieces against Max "Blessed" Holloway, Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier, Dennis Siver, Chad "Money" Mendes, Jose Aldo Jr., Eddie Alvarez, and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. While Poirier is much more credentialed, McGregor is much more famous.

The first Poirier-McGregor fight back in 2014 ended via first-round TKO for McGregor, their second fight earlier this year ended via KO in the second round as Poirier had buckled McGregor due to leg kicks, unbalancing McGregor and allowing Poirier to land some devastating head punches which finished McGregor and the fight.

Now their once-settled animosity is back, and McGregor is pulling out all his tricks as far as mind games to throw off the peaking Poirier. Among these McGregor promised to donate to Poirier's "The Good Fight Foundation" charity after the second fight, but, after being KO'd McGregor instead called Poirier's charity into question and instead donated to a comparable local charity. Conor McGregor is a vindictive prick, but he's a damn effective one.

This will truly be a battle between the good guy and the bad guy, the face and the heel. Dustin Poirier is the fan-friendly family man, while McGregor is an extremely skilled and intimidating asshole. Skill to skill these two southpaw strikes should demonstrate another battle for the ages, and, while Poirier has a distinct experience and skill advantage, McGregor has power rarely seen in the lower weight classes. Whoever wins, so too do the fans of MMA.

In the co-main event top welterweight contenders Gilbert "Durinho" Burns (19-4) and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson (16-4) battle for a title fight against the UFC welterweight champion Kamaru "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman on the line - unless the UFC brass instead go for the rematch between Colby "Chaos" Covington (considering he is the favourite fighter of UFC president Dana White's buddy Donald Trump). Whatever happens, they're ranked as #2 and #4 contenders divisionally, according to the UFC's official rankings.

Following wins against Gunnar "Gunnie" Nelson, Demian Maia, and Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Burns finally got a title shot against his then-teammate and the reigning welterweight champion Kamaru "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman. In that fight, a devastating power jab from Usman dropped Burns before he was finished on the ground by the champion. Rebounding off of that loss, Burns now looks to re-enter the welterweight title picture by staving off a fellow top-contender in Stephen Thompson.

Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson is a Simpsonville, South Carolina striking wizard who specialises in Kempo Karate under the tutelage of his father who runs the local Karate dojo. "Wonderboy" has wins over Robert "The Reaper" Whittaker, Johny "Big Rig" Hendricks, Rory "Red King" McDonald, Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal, Vicente Luque, and Geoff Neal.

It's a battle of the elite Jiu-Jitsu and power striking of the stocky Gilbert Burns against the elite kickboxing and supreme fight IQ of Stephen Thompson. What happens is anyone's guess, but the stakes are high. If Burns wins he'll be right back in title contention, while, if Thompson wins, he'll be in contention against the current champion Kamaru Usman for the first time, having unsuccessfully challenged the former champion Tyron "T-Wood" Woodley twice.

In the middle of the main card heavyweight brawlers Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa (12-3) and Greg "The Prince of War" Hardy (7-3) duke it out in what could be the fight of the night. Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa is an Australian prospect who has been mentored by Australasian MMA legend and former UFC heavyweight Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt.

In a similar vein to his hero Mark Hunt, Tuivasa has devastating power along with a near-indestructible chin; although, as with Hunt, Tuivasa's skillset is almost entirely on the feet striking. He's a marauding heavyweight with a chin almost as durable as his hands are powerful. Hopefully that power is put on full display against the controversial Greg Hardy.

Greg "The Prince of War" Hardy is known equally for his history of domestic violence, and the numerous handouts that the UFC has given him as far as match-making and main card fight slots. Despite these opportunities, Hardy has managed to lose due to illegally kneeing a downed opponent in Allen Crowder, and then, two fights later Hardy had his unanimous decision win against Ben Sosoli overturned because he used an asthma inhaler between rounds in his corner. Considering most inhalers include steroids and bronchodilator drugs, and also considering fighters are only allowed water between rounds, this was of course a blatant, fight-ending foul. At the time Hardy used the inhaler UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner went on the broadcast to call the usage: "completely illegal, no question about it" and "against all the rules".

Yet, against all these indiscretions before and during his brief MMA career, and his recent TKO loss to Marcin Tybura, Greg Hardy is still featured in the main card against a Tai Tuivasa who on a two-fight first-round KO streak of victories.

I speak for most fans of MMA and human decency when I say that Greg Hardy deserves to be knocked unconscious this weekend against Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa. Let's just hope Hardy's luck has run out because he is the least-skilled, most-promoted fighter since the WWE star C.M. Punk, who made a disastrous MMA run ending over two devastating losses.

UFC 264 is packed to the gills with action fights, and the stakes are high. Although the UFC match-making is at times hilariously bad, there are many unanswered questions to resolve over this event's considerable runtime. Very rarely are MMA fights boring, and so there should be plenty for MMA fans of all kinds to sink their teeth into.

For us here in New Zealand the main card starts at 2:00 PM this Sunday, while the early preliminaries begin a few hours earlier at 10:00 AM. I'm looking forward to what is a heavy dose of MMA action this weekend. Enjoy!