Dustin Poirier has vowed to give Conor McGregor a fourth fight 'whether it's in the octagon or on the sidewalk' after he secured a stoppage victory in bizarre circumstances in their rematch at UFC 264.
It was one-way traffic from the off as The Diamond methodically picked apart the former UFC lightweight champion - even openly mocking his injured opponent with a wag of his finger at one point.
Poirier won by TKO after referee Herb Dean waved off the fight at the end of the first round to spare McGregor from any further damage - with many UFC fans believing the former champ was a shadow of his former self.
Tensions threatened to boil over in the days building up to the trilogy bout with McGregor even going so far as to threaten to 'murder' Poirier who was understandably rather annoyed by his failed attempts to get under his skin.
“Conor said some nasty stuff that didn’t make it on 'Embedded,'” Poirier said to reporters at the UFC post-fight press conference. “Maybe when the behind-the-scenes for this fight airs, you’ll see him on the ground still saying some really bad stuff.
"But even that stuff being said, I don’t wish serious harm like that on nobody.
"The guy’s got kids. I want him to go home safe to his family. I pray before these fights.
“Every time before I walk through that octagon door, I’m praying not for me to win.
“I’m praying that we both get out of there safe. I know what I’m going to try to do to him and I know what he’s going to try to do with me.”
But Poirier has left the door open for a fourth fight between the pair as he revealed that he plans to put an emphatic end to his long-running rivalry with McGregor.
“We are going to fight again whether it’s in the octagon or on the sidewalk,” the Louisiana native said. "You don’t say the stuff he said.
"My wife is solid as a rock. I’m not worried about that. That’s noise.
"He was saying he was going to kill me. You don’t say stuff like that – that he was going to murder me. You don’t say stuff like that.
"You don’t say stuff about people’s wives either, but I know that that’s zero chance.
"There is a chance somebody could die. You don’t say that. You don’t wish that on anybody.”
UFC president Dana White was also in agreement with Poirier and believes that the fourth bout should be booked as soon as possible, citing what he sees as an unsatisfactory ending to what was otherwise set up to be a fantastic main event.
He added: “The fight didn’t get finished. You can’t have a fight finish that way.
"We’ll see how this whole thing plays out. Who knows how long Conor’s out, so Poirier will do his thing until Conor’s ready.”
“You can’t do the hypotheticals in this sport. It’s all about timing, what’s going on, what’s happens since then.
"Conor goes into surgery tomorrow, we don’t know long how he’s going to be out, how much his rehab and therapy he’s going to need.”
Read more: How Conor McGregor joined the UFC after being rejected in 2012