On September 27, 2014, when 26-year-old Connor McGregor and 25-year-old Dustin Pouvier first met in an octagon cage, I am afraid that neither of the two fierce and unruly young men would have imagined that after the narrow road of this ascent, the other would become one of the most important roles in their careers and even their entire lives many years later.
And if they are willing to carefully review their life course, they will find that the seemingly accidental encounters and career constraints that seem to be full of accidents have long been quietly doomed under the arrangement of fate, but they did not know at that time, when the two met, how far the two sides were actually, and how close each other's life trajectory was in those days that had nothing to do with each other.
Life First Treatment
In January 2011, when Dustin Povalier, who had just turned 22, officially stepped into the octagon cage with an outstanding record of 8 wins and 1 losses and a 100% finishing percentage, the talented rookie, who had been playing in the lightweight since his debut in 2009, made a reasonable, universal and far-reaching decision, that is, to relegate to 145 pounds and pursue his dream of winning the championship in the featherweight level that can play more physical advantage. This decision also laid the groundwork for his later ups and downs in life.
Dustin, who was relegated to the featherweights, played a beautiful four-game winning streak in his first year in the octagon cage with his excellent batting talent and solid fighting skills, and in the fourth game, he won the first best demotion bonus of his career by demoting Hawaiian newcomer Max Holloway, who had just signed to the UFC. However, his winning streak also ended here. In May 2012, Dustin, who played the main battle night headline competition for the first time, was hanged by the "Korean zombie" Zheng Yidas, and suffered his own octagonal cage defeat. Although he stopped the decline in time with a victory half a year later, in the February 2013 UFC London competition, he decided to lose to another famous player, "Coconut King" Swanson, and the dream of the talented teenager's championship was also overshadowed with these two defeats.
And when the sharp "diamond" Poirlier weakened due to the obstruction of the rise, a more radiant and dazzling "supernova" than him, but at this time, he descended into the octagonal cage. On 6 April 2013, Connor McGregor, a 25-year-old Irishman, started his UFC journey in the featherweights with the title of European double, and with his extraordinary batting skills and finishing ability, he successfully reached the top ten after three consecutive wins. His next opponent is Povarier, who has just returned from a brief defeat and climbed to No. 5 in the rankings.
At UFC178 in September 2014, Connor, who first entered the main lineup of the digital competition, ended the then recognized top strike master "Diamond" Dustin with a crazy performance, and officially stood in the center of the top stage after this game, opening his great legend that made the blood of global audiences boil with a shocking upward momentum and hype.
Dustin, who has always been quite conceited about his strength and martial arts, tasted being TKO for the first time. Although in his opinion, this was not a fair duel at all, in the face of this dazzling, crazy, noisy, hateful Irishman, Diamond was distraught before the start of the match, and swallowed the bitter fruit of the defeat in a confused way. But failure is failure, the result of the game can not be changed, we can only say that Dustin, who was bent on seeking strength and victory at that time, was not able to understand and cope with Connor, the "mouth cannon" who surpassed the times.
Go your separate ways
After the victory over "Diamond", the featherweight almost became Connor's personal stage, although "King" Aldo was still firmly on the throne, and despite the dissatisfaction of many front-line challengers, Connor's unparalleled personal charm and desire to perform made him quickly become the darling of global audiences. Almost everyone is looking forward to him standing on the stage of the championship game, and he has lived up to expectations. On the night of the fight in January 2015, TKO defeated the top ten masters Dan Sever, successfully locking in the championship challenge, and the UFC featherweight also officially opened the "Connor era".
When Connor, who has unlimited scenery, writes his own legendary story on and off the field, the frustrated diamond also continues his life path. Although the loss to Connor made him unhappy, after anger and chagrin, Dustin began to think about his career prospects again, Connor's invincible popularity, and his pressing for the current champion Jose Aldo, so that "Diamond" really could not see his hope of rising in the featherweight. Therefore, after Connor locked in the right to challenge, in April 2015, "Diamond", who had been fighting in the featherweight for more than four years, chose to return to the lightweight level and open up a new way of ascending.
Later, in 2015 and 2016, when the "diamond" silently advanced on the new battlefield, the UFC officially entered the "Connor era" of rapid development, as an unprecedented superstar in the history of MMA sports, Connor in the past two years, first defeated Chad Mendez to win the interim championship belt, and then beat Jose Aldo to officially ascend to the throne, and after two consecutive box office records in Nate Diaz, at the UFC205 in November 2016, the cross-level end of the lightweight champion Avarez, Became the first double champion in UFC history to have two belts at the same time.
And when the superstar Connor, who became famous and highly successful, began to stay away from the octagonal cage due to the cross-border engagement mayweather, the long-lost Dustin returned to the center of the stage. In September 2016, "Diamond", who returned to the lightweight level and easily won four consecutive wins, was terminated by michael Johnson, the "king of hardness" in an unwise frontal change, and suffered a light first defeat and has since ended the easy road on the ascent road and entered the hell experience that he has never experienced in his career.
At the UFC208 in February 2017, diamonds who had just suffered defeat, faced the "well-known labor model" Jim Miller, accidentally injured and difficult to move in the case of superior strength and victory, while Dustin, who had always been considered talented and lacking in toughness, showed amazing tenacity when he was on the verge of desperation, dragging his injured leg and fighting with the other party until the end of the game, and with the advantage of the early stage, he decided to win in a very thrilling way. Dustin, who was reborn in blood, also began at this moment, got rid of his "glass physique" of attacking strong and defending weakly, and under heavy pressure, completely transformed into a truly indestructible "diamond".
After that, Dustin was no longer the assassin who was good at sealing his throat with a sword, but he was often unable to protect himself, and in the following two years, he achieved a super platinum record of 3 wins and 1 resultless in four games against three top masters. In addition to a battle with former champion Avarez, who was ruled inconclusive for a foul on the other side, he won all three other matches, among which TKO 'Bloodstream' represented Justin Gage's bloody battle, which won him the admiration and awe of audiences around the world. And with Connor giving up the throne and Habib reaching the top, Powell, who has secured the top five in the lightweight level, has naturally become a new player in the game of thrones.
After that, the story, I believe everyone is very familiar, in October 2018, Connor, who has been in the battle for a long time, finally returned after two years away from the octagon cage, trying to create another miracle of winning the championship. But in the face of the insoluble king Habib, who has an "undefeated aura", he can only drink and hate the arena in the end and leave again. At this time, Poisier seized the historical opportunity in the love-hate entanglement of the three giants of Habib, Connor and Ferguson. At UFC 236 in April 2019, he defeated the new featherweight king Max Holloway, who was competing for the championship across the division, to win the provisional championship belt and lock in the coveted championship challenge.
Although he followed in the footsteps of Connor in September of the same year and became the second frustrated challenger of the "Little Eagle Dynasty", since then, diamonds, which were once far behind by the mouth cannon, have unconsciously caught up with the other party's forward pace and become one of the few big people in the octagon cage that can be compared with the "Eagle Cannon".
Reunion after a long absence
Although temporarily suppressed by the strong rule of the Kitty Hawks, neither Connor nor Poisier, as the most competitive and influential top figure in the lightweight, will not see a challenge defeat as the end of his career. As the trajectory of the two people's lives rises and falls and alternates, they gradually approach infinitely under the lightweight throne, and the possibility of the two sides meeting again is also increasing.
In January 2020, Connor announced his return in the opening year of UFC 246, killing the "cowboy" Cyloni, and in June of the same year, Povarier once again used a bloody battle to determine the victory over the powerful upstart "hanging" Dan Hawke, continuing to maintain the oppression of the lightweight throne.
After UFC 254 in October, when Habib, who successfully defended the title for the third time, suddenly announced his retirement due to the death of his father, Connor, who could not overcome the difficulty of Habib because of his style, finally saw the hope of rebuilding his glory, and among the lightweight top challengers, the most qualified champion, the most suitable technical style of the strike master, his former defeated general "Diamond" Dustin, became the most favorite opponent of the mouth cannon. It's just that Connor now, like the diamonds of that year, has no idea how far the other party has evolved.
In January 2021, after a long absence of 7 years, the two staged the most influential non-title battle in recent years at UFC 257, and Connor, who was in an octagonal cage and was attached to the boxing ring, wanted to use his increasingly exquisite boxing skills to end the former defeats as soon as possible, and return to his altar with this hearty victory. But today's diamond, but is no longer the frizzy teenager of the year, in the face of Connor's opening boxing advantage, Dustin quickly used a smooth technical switch to dissolve in time, and with a fast, continuous low sweep, patiently weakened the ability to move the mouth cannon, and by the time Connor noticed that his calf was different, everything was already too late...
If the first confrontation made the top five diamonds of the year see the horror talent under the "clown mask" of Connor's sensationalism, then this second battle made Connor, whose heart was higher than the sky, re-realize the real strength of the former opponent after years of hard work and continuous evolution. Although the lightweight belt has recently belonged, the three battles between the mouth cannon and the diamond are now the ultimate battle that really determines the future of the level.
Diamond's victory not only completely disrupted Connor's plan to revive, but also made himself a key figure in the "post-kitty era", enough to affect the lightweight and even octagonal cage pattern. Although we often say, "He who kills Caesar does not become Caesar." Diamond's career achievements and historical status will never be able to match Connor's peak glory, but as another talented teenager who is similar to Connor's style and has been fighting in the invisible entanglement of fate and silently catching up, today's diamonds have the opportunity to completely end a great era - and the only way to surpass the "Creator God" is to become the terminator of all this after determining that it cannot be surpassed.