The main event in some peoples minds on Saturday night at UFC 178 was the featherweight bout between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. McGregor said he would get a first round finish and that is excatly what happened.
McGregor dropped Poirier just after the 90 second mark of the fight and the offical end came at 1:46 of the first round. The victory over Poirier was a statement and why some may not agree with this, McGregor should be next up for a title shot.
He did something that Cub Swanson was unable to do, and that was finish Poirier, who is currently the number five ranked contender for the title. Swanson has a fight booked for November against Frankie Edgar and all of the top featherweight contenders are now booked besides McGregor.
While McGregor only has one top ten win in the UFC featherweight division, the fighter out of Dublin, Ireland is a star and he gets it.
Unlike Swanson, McGregor is telling the world what he wants. After Swanson defeated Jeremy Stephens in June, he had his opportunity to tell the UFC he wanted a title shot, but he did not do it in a way that McGregor did on Saturday night. Not only did McGregor have a fantastic performance, he made it clear that he wants the title shot. During this week, McGregor told several media outlets that he will stay in shape and will be ready to replace Chad Mendes at UFC 179 if that spot becomes available.
This is a time in mixed martial arts where people are saying the UFC needs new stars. They have struggled to replace Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, and Georges St-Pierre in terms of pay-per-view stars. McGregor has the fighting style and personality to become a pay-per-view star and he is a rarity in mixed martial arts, a fighter under 170 pounds that people will drop what they are doing to watch.
While timing is everything in this sport, McGregor makes the most business sense for the UFC to be the next title challenger. Only time will tell if he gets the next title shot after Mendes.