UFC 257: Conor McGregor suffers second-round TKO from Dustin Poirier

Mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor suffered a stunning upset at the hands of Dustin Poirier at the main event of UFC 257. The fight, which is McGregor's latest comeback after his latest "retirement" announcement, took place on Saturday, January 23, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

UFC 257 was off to a shaky start, with numerous streaming issues hitting the event. With piracy and illegal streams running rampant, UFC president Dana White announced that they were taking extra measures to secure the broadcast. However, when the event began on Saturday, several legitimate buyers were locked out of the stream. Even UFC athletes themselves were unable to access the pay-per-view broadcast via ESPN+.

While the technical team was scrambling behind the scenes to sort out the streaming issues, the fights proceeded as planned. Brazilian Marina Rodriguez defeated compatriot Amanda Ribas in the first fight while Joanne Calderwood defeated Jessica Eye by unanimous decision in their flyweight bout.

The next bout of the main card ended in a third-round victory by Makhmud Muradov over fellow middleweight Andrew Sanchez (12-6).

Newcomer lightweight Michael Chandler stirred up some attention after challenging retired division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov as his next opponent. He also challenged both headliners, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, after taking down Dan Hooker after just two and a half minutes.

The main fight of the evening was McGregor's comeback after his third so-called retirement. It is a rematch of McGregor and Poirier's first clash in 2014, which McGregor won via a first-round knockout.

This time, 2021 ended in a completely different way. Poirier was able to take his revenge via an early takedown on McGregor in the first round. McGregor responds with a couple of shoulder strikes, and the first round ends with both fighters still very much in the game.

The second round starts well for the Irishman, as he lands an uppercut on Poirier. However, his opponent retaliates with some kicks. He then lands a series of punches that sends McGregor to the ground. The match is stopped and an upset has been sealed.

With each fighter now having a victory against each other, calls for a trilogy are resounding throughout the MMA community.