Dana White Considering Poirier vs. McGregor 4: ‘You Can’t Have a Fight Finish That Way’

Although Dustin Poirier might have been well on his way to a second victory over Conor McGregor regardless, the lasting memory of their trilogy bout at UFC 264 will be the leg injury that ended the Irish superstar’s night.

“The storyline is, oh, Conor broke his ankle instead of Dustin looked good,” UFC president Dana White said at the UFC 264 post-fight press conference.

“It sucks,” White said. “It’s brutal. It’s not the way you want to see fights end. Dustin Poirier will fight for the title, and when Conor is healed and ready to go, you do the rematch, I guess. I don’t know.”

Poirier defeated McGregor decisively in their rematch at UFC 257 and had referee Herb Dean taking a close look at the proceedings with his ground-and-pound barrage late in Round 1 on Saturday, but the nature of the ending makes White believe a fourth bout is necessary.

“The fight didn’t get finished,” he said. “You can’t have a fight finish that way, so we’ll see how this whole thing plays out. Who knows how long Conor is out, so Poirier will do his thing until Conor’s ready.”

Poirier let McGregor get back to his feet in the waning seconds of the period, and the break occurred when “Notorious” stepped awkwardly after missing a punch. According to White, it was hardly a foregone conclusion that Poirier was on his way to victory.

“He got back up on his feet and started throwing punches,” White said. “His ankle snapped from throwing punches. He was fighting back. It wasn’t like he was up against the cage and defenseless and was unloading on him.”

In the more immediate future, Poirier will have a date against current 155-pound champion Charles Oliveira. White didn’t have a timeline for Poirier vs. McGregor 4. Instead, it’s a fight the UFC boss will keep in his back pocket, much like the anticipated McGregor-Nate Diaz trilogy.

“The rematch is there,” he said. “You’ve got the rematch with him like you’ve got the rematch with [Nate] Diaz. It’s always going to be there. I don’t know what the landscape’s going to look like when he’s ready, so to say definitively, I can’t, right here, right now. But you always have that rematch.”

For Poirier, some of McGregor’s trash talk heading into UFC 264 – and immediately after the bout -- reached inappropriate levels, and that’s why the American Top Team representative believes the rivals will square off again in some shape or form.

“We are going to fight again whether it’s in the Octagon or on the sidewalk,” Poirier said. You don’t say the stuff he said. … My wife is solid as a rock. I’m not worried about that. That’s noise. He was saying he was going to kill me. You don’t say stuff like that – that he was going to murder me. You don’t say stuff like that. You don’t say stuff about people’s wives either, but I know that that’s zero-chance. There is a chance somebody could die. You don’t say that. You don’t wish that on anybody.”