MMA: Colby Covington backs Conor McGregor to beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 257

• Covington predicts Poirier will lose in one round when he fights at UFC 257
• Covington and Poirier were long-time friends and training partners but have since become huge rivals 

Colby Covington convinced that Conor McGregor will beat Dustin Poirier within the first round of their clash at UFC 257. 

Covington has issued a stark warning to former team-mate turned rival Dustin Poirier ahead of his clash with Conor McGregor.

The pair will clash for the second time on ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi after they met in 2014, a hotly-anticipated showdown that McGregor won by TKO in the first round.

Covington, who previously trained with Poirier at the American Top Team gym in Florida, showed there was no love lost between the pair when asked to give a prediction on the upcoming fight while speaking on Submission Radio.

‘All I gotta say guys is make sure you guys got the Kleenex ready at the press conference ’cause you know Dustin Sore-ier is going to break down on the mic,’

‘He’s gonna cry to the world, get everyone to feel sympathy and feel bad for him. He’s going to get sparked again in the first round ’cause he’s completely washed up and has no chin anymore and no heart.

It’s not going to be competitive. I think Conor’s just going to spark him in the first round’.

The pair have exchanged heated words in the past and Covington recently blasted Poirer for ‘all the s*** he talks’ , while Poirier took to Instagram last year to challenge his 32 year-old rival when they next meet at their shared gym.

Covington no longer trains at the American Top Team facility.

He is chasing a high-profile showdown with another member of the ATT gym, Jorge Masvidal, who has been out of the Octagon since his loss to Kamaru Usman in July.