UFC 264

UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 10, 2021 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.^[3]

UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3
The poster for UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	July 10, 2021 (2021-07-10)
Venue	T-Mobile Arena
City	Paradise, Nevada, United States
Attendance	20,062[1]
Total gate	$15,759,800[1]
Buyrate	1,800,000[2]
Event chronology
UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Volkov UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3 UFC on ESPN: Makhachev vs. Moisés

Background

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UFC has been hosting most of its events in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex facility, all of them behind closed doors.^[4] This was the first time since UFC 248 in March 2020 that T-Mobile Arena hosted an event, with a full capacity crowd attending it.^[5]

A lightweight trilogy between former interim UFC Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier and former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor headlined the event.^[6] Their first fight was a featherweight bout that happened in September 2014 at UFC 178, where McGregor won by first-round technical knockout.^[7] They then ascended to lightweight for an eventual rematch in January 2021 at UFC 257, where Poirier prevailed via second-round knockout.^[8] During fight week, it was revealed that former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was selected by the organization to serve as a potential replacement in case of need.^[9]

A middleweight bout between former KSW Welterweight Champion and Dricus du Plessis and Trevin Giles was scheduled to take place at UFC on ESPN: Brunson vs. Holland, but du Plessis was pulled from the event due to visa issues which restricted his travel.^[10] The pairing was rescheduled and took place at this event.^[11]

A welterweight bout between Sean Brady and former interim UFC Lightweight Championship challenger Kevin Lee was expected to take place at the event.^[12] However, Lee withdrew due to injury and the bout was removed from the event.^[13]

A bantamweight bout between Sean O'Malley and Louis Smolka was expected to take place at the event.^[14] However on June 29, Smolka withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.^[15] He was replaced by promotional newcomer Kris Moutinho.^[16]

At the weigh-ins, Irene Aldana weighed in at 139.5 pounds, three and a half pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. Her bout proceeded at catchweight and she was fined 30% of her purse, which went to her opponent Yana Kunitskaya.^[17]

On July 9, it was announced that the UFC would be increasing bonuses (Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night) from $50,000 to $75,000 for this event.^[18]

A middleweight bout between Alen Amedovski and Hu Yaozong was scheduled to be the first preliminary bout of the event.^[19] However, it was cancelled just hours before taking place due to COVID-19 protocol issues in Amedovski's camp.^[20]

Results

Main card
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Lightweight	Dustin Poirier	def.	Conor McGregor	TKO (doctor stoppage)	1	5:00
Welterweight	Gilbert Burns	def.	Stephen Thompson	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Heavyweight	Tai Tuivasa	def.	Greg Hardy	KO (punches)	1	1:07
Catchweight (139.5 lb)	Irene Aldana	def.	Yana Kunitskaya	TKO (punches)	1	4:35
Bantamweight	Sean O'Malley	def.	Kris Moutinho	TKO (punches)	3	4:33
Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Welterweight	Max Griffin	def.	Carlos Condit	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27)	3	5:00
Welterweight	Michel Pereira	def.	Niko Price	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Featherweight	Ilia Topuria	def.	Ryan Hall	KO (punches)	1	4:47
Middleweight	Dricus du Plessis	def.	Trevin Giles	KO (punches)	2	1:41
Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Women's Flyweight	Jennifer Maia	def.	Jessica Eye	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27)	3	5:00
Middleweight	Brad Tavares	def.	Omari Akhmedov	Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Flyweight	Zhalgas Zhumagulov	def.	Jerome Rivera	Submission (guillotine choke)	1	2:02

^[21]

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $75,000 bonuses.^[22]

• Fight of the Night: Sean O'Malley vs. Kris Moutinho
• Performance of the Night: Tai Tuivasa and Dricus du Plessis

See also

• Martial Arts portal

• List of UFC events
• List of current UFC fighters
• 2021 in UFC