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Takedown breakdown: How shoulder strikes can impact cage wrestling (and maybe the UFC 264 main event)

A great deal of the buildup to Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3 has revolved around the tactics Poirier utilized to defeat McGregor in their rematch. Ideas such as “wrestling,” “kicking” and “defense” were ridiculed by McGregor, the former two-weight champion has made a point of attempting to shame Poirier for these strategies.

Fans on social media have reacted predictably, but one unique idea that has popped up was, “what if it’s misdirection, what if McGregor is actually going to wrestle Poirier?” At face value it comes across as a very silly suggestion - McGregor hasn’t actively wrestled very much in his UFC career, and even less at lightweight.