Recap of Dustin Poirier – Conor McGregor, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Green Bay Packers & Kansas City Chiefs – Buffalo Bills

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By Ron Signore

The weekend kicked off with the much anticipated rematch at UFC 257 between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. This would be the fist fight for “The Notorious” Conor McGregor since January a year ago. The anticipation created by his normal pre-fight trash talk, along with his continued postings of his workouts on social media would have led everyone to believe he was in the best condition of his life.

Poirier on the other hand had taken a much different approach, one that would relieve some pressure that was continuously mounting on him to perform. The approach mimicked that of “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” where he just went out to do what he needed to do, and generally not worry about what others thought of him.

From the introductions and pre-fight moments before the start of the first round, something looked off. My first impression reacted to communicating with a friend that “Conor doesn’t seem ready.” Truth of the matter was that he looked like something was missing. For those of you who are fans of the Rocky franchise, he looked like he had lost that eye of the tiger. Poirier on the other hand had nothing but determination in his eyes.

The bout started with some up top grappling, and a relatively fast take down for Poirier. McGregor would fight calmly back to his feet after the immediate control and the fight would continue on their feet. In the upright attack, Poirier landed continuous leg kicks to the lead (right) leg of McGregor, causing obvious damage, but the two continued to mix in blows throughout the round.

The second round started off with the same tone as the end of the first round. Poirier attacked that lead leg, while McGregor tried to move for the knockout in one punch. He connected on a few jabs and lefts, and even started to smarten up and catch some of the leg kicks Poirier threw at him. In the midst, about halfway through the second round, Poirier caught McGregor off guard and stunned him enough to attack dominantly throwing McGregor to the floor and covering with hammer shots that caused referee Herb Dean to call the fight by way of TKO from Poirier.

While Poirier is primed for another good fight on his ascent to the top of the lightweight division with either Michael Chandler, Charles Oliviera, Justin Gathje or Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor has some searching to do for his next mission. He did not look like a fighter who was really interested in taking over the division again. However, he is Conor McGregor. “The Notorious” will draw no matter who he fights. As a fan, and someone who respects all he has accomplished, I hope he figures it out.

Sunday was nothing short of an exciting day for football. The Conference Championships in the NFL had every fan anxiously awaiting to see the outcomes that would shape Super Bowl 55.

In the NFC Championship Game, we saw two legends battle each other for top spot in the conference, and from two different avenues. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers were the number 1 seed with home field advantage in the NFC and the Tom Brady led Buccaneers were a Wild Card team, having to win 3 road games to get to the Super Bowl. This was also the first Wild Card team Tom Brady has played on in the playoffs.

The game started off sound with Brady and Rodgers methodically shredding the opposing defense to gain points in the beginning of the game. Tom Brady’s offense controlled the game throughout, never letting there be a perception that they would not be winning the game. Their defense stifled Aaron Rodgers offense with some critical stops, but even as they approach the Buccaneers in total points, the game really was lost by the coaching of Green Bad.

Second year coach Matt LeFleur decided to kick a field goal while in the red zone late in the fourth quarter down by 8, leaving around 4 minutes of clock to burn in the game. He gambled that Tom Brady wouldn’t be able to gain a couple of first downs to run the clock out, and he lose. Brady sealed a trip to his first Super Bowl without Bill Belichick, and the Buccaneers first Super Bowl Super Bowl 38 in 2002 by topping the Packers 31-26. After winning 3 road games to get to the Super Bowl, arguably the toughest path to do so, they become the first team to host a Super Bowl at their home stadium.

The AFC Championship game that followed featured two of the league’s most up and coming quarterbacks in the sound Patrick Mahomes and increasingly better Josh Allen. Mahomes, the reigning MVP, and defending champion Kansas City Chiefs lead the league by way of record, earning the number 1 seed throughout the playoffs. The second seeded Bills came in hot and jumped right onto the Chiefs with no fear scoring on their first two possessions and going up 9-0. Between the uncertainty of Mahomes and how he would come back from concussion protocol and some other early mistakes, the Bills looked to continue their hot run by controlling the Chiefs.

It was not to be though. The Chiefs followed up being behind 9-0 with 21 unanswered point and never looked back. The Bills fought admirably but the Chiefs were too much winning 38-24 to go to their second consecutive Super Bowl.

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