Dustin Poirier defeats Conor McGregor by knockout

(CNN) -

American mixed martial arts fighter Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor early Sunday morning in a highly anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship rematch that knocked McGregor out for the fight in the second round.

He just wasn't as comfortable as he needed to be.

It's inactivity, ”said McGregor from Ireland in an interview posted on Twitter after the fight.

But he promised to keep fighting this year.

"I have to dust myself off and go back and that's it.

That's what I'll do".

He added that he was "devastated" by the defeat.

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"I worked hard, I'm proud of my work, I would have liked to represent my team a little better."

After his win, Poirier said in an interview on Twitter that he felt like he was "boxing pretty well" against McGregor.

"I'm here to win," he added.

Before the fight, many social media users reported outages at the ESPN + UFC 257 pay-per-view event, with NFL superstar JJ Watt tweeting, "I'd like to get my $ 70 back."

"I'm really worried about people who can't watch the fights," wrote UFC fighter Julia Avila on Twitter.

"I actually did FaceTime with some friends for a while."

A rematch, six years later

The surprising loss came after McGregor spent more than a year out of the UFC.

He called that moment a "wild ride."

"I'm very excited to be back here," he said during a pre-fight press conference Thursday.

“I am very excited to have fans here.

I feel revitalized «.

McGregor first announced in October that he had accepted the fight against Poirier, in what was a 2014 rematch, where it took the Irish fighter less than two minutes to knock out Poirier.

The American told CNN that he learned a lot from that defeat and six years later, he felt "more prepared now on the mental side."

“Before, when I was younger, I didn't put a lot on the mental side of fights.

I listened to the critics.

I listened to people's opinions.

I listened to Conor, ”Poirier said previously.

"Now that's just noise to me."

CNN's Richard Parr, Kevin Dotson, and Don Riddell contributed to this report.

Conor McGregor