Dustin Poirier has more skill, but a recent Twitter beef could give Conor McGregor an edge in their trilogy fight, says ex-UFC champ Pettis

• Dustin Poirier has more skills than Conor McGregor, according to Anthony Pettis.
• Regardless, recent hostilities could see McGregor reclaim an edge in their one win apiece rivalry.
• Pettis said trash-talk regarding Poirier's charity could be an advantage for McGregor.

Dustin Poirier may have better skills, but recent hostilities could give Conor McGregor an edge in their trilogy bout July 10 in Las Vegas.

That's according to the former UFC champion Anthony Pettis, who told Insider this week that he always knew the American was going to win the pair's January rematch on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

Poirier and McGregor first fought in 2014. The Irishman scored a first-round knockout that further established himself as a fast-rising UFC featherweight, three fights removed from a smash-and-grab 2015 finish against long-reigning 145-pound ruler Jose Aldo.

Seven years later, it was a case of revenge rather than repeat for Poirier, who crippled McGregor's calf, shellacked him against the fence, and left him unconscious on the canvas in round two of a wild fight.

The difference between the first fight and second fights, Pettis told us, was that Poirier had become more mature and experienced.

"I called that - that Dustin was going to win that one," Pettis said of the UFC 257 main event in the United Arab Emirates.

"If Dustin doesn't fight out of anger, and he's not attached to anxiety or emotion, he's got more skills than Conor.

"But when Conor draws him out of that shell, and brings him into his world, that's when Dustin is going to get caught," Pettis said.

McGregor brought Poirier into his world by irritating him to the point he wanted to fight him at the weigh-in, the day before the UFC 178 fight.

"I wanted to make the guy pay, you know? I was angry," Poirier recalled to ESPN. "I remember wanting to fight him at the weigh-in, which is crazy to look back at. I was just in such a weird place in my mind."

Pettis lost via body triangle submission to Poirier in 2017 and is aware of how the 32-year-old fighter has evolved from a featherweight fighting on emotion, to a well-rounded lightweight who is comfortable competing at the top level.

Recent trash-talk could see the balance of power return to McGregor

"Conor can get in people's heads where it messes their gameplan up and they want to just hit him, like Jose Aldo," Pettis said, referencing McGregor's signature win - a 13-second knockout.

"Jose Aldo wanted to hit him so bad he walked into that left hand," he said.

"When Dustin Poirier fought him first, [he was] in his head, and you saw what happened there. But the second time, the left hand was still there, and it hurt, but it was expected. Poirier wasn't trying to go straight, straight, straight.

"When you look at skills, Conor does have skills. But Dustin has better wrestling, ground-game top and bottom, kicking and punching.

"Where you put it together, Dustin has more experience at the higher levels. He's fought myself, and all the guys he's fought to get to the level he's at.

"Whereas Conor got to pick his way [to the top]."

Pettis said Eddie Alvarez was one of McGregor's biggest tests, but said his win over Donald Cerrone in 2020, in which the fighter displayed new shoulder strike techniques, may have been a case of the Cowboy losing the fight as much as McGregor winning.

"Cowboy has a mental mess-up, and he'll tell you himself. I'm friends with Cowboy, but he's a different Cowboy when the big pressure is on," said Pettis.

A PFL MMA competitor who made his debut for the new fight firm Friday in a lightweight match against Clay Collard, Pettis said that a flare-up in hostilities could see McGregor reclaim his 2014 edge.

Poirier created a Twitter firestorm earlier this month when he accused McGregor of reneging on a $500,000 charity donation. Days later, he tweeted an apology of sorts.

"Dustin has more skills overall [than Conor] but with all the charity things coming up, if he lets that cloud his game plan at all, then Conor has a chance."

The winner of the trilogy bout is expected to be thrust into a UFC lightweight title shot.

The belt is currently vacant after Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement, and will be awarded to the winner of Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira's UFC 262 fight next month.