The weird, strange and out of the ordinary in mixed martial arts continues to haunt the sport as news of Conor McGregor failing to carry through on the highly suspicious $500,000 pledge to the Dustin Poirier charity foundation prior to their UFC 257 rematch rocked the sport and raises more questions than answers in the continuing saga of impropriety in combat sports. “McGregor and Dustin Poirier built up a lot of good will prior to their non-title fight at UFC 257 in January, but that good will appears to be gone,” writes ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in his April 12, 2021 article titled, “Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor quarrel over $500K donation.”

According to the report, “The two lightweights lashed out at each other on social media on Sunday, less than three months ahead of their scheduled trilogy bout at UFC 264 on July 10. The source of the back-and-forth is actually what brought them together at the beginning of the year: a donation from McGregor to Poirier's charity, The Good Fight Foundation.”

“Prior to UFC 257,” writes Okamoto, “McGregor said he would donate $500,000 to Poirier's charity, and that it would go towards building a gym for disadvantaged youth in Poirier's hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. On Sunday, Poirier accused McGregor of ignoring his attempts to reach out about the donation after the fight, which Poirier won via second-round TKO.”

To put all of this into perspective, prior to McGregor vs. Poirier II, Conor McGregor made headlines across the globe with his pledge to donate $500,000 to the Poirier charity foundation. Fast forward three months and we find out McGregor has failed to make good on his promise, a fact which gives cause for reconsideration on exactly what that $500,000 donation was actually intended to be for? With Poirier emerging victorious from the bout, the fact McGregor has failed to make due on his promise is raising more questions than answers.

Interestingly, according to an April 13, 2021 ScrapDigest.com article titled, "Conor McGregor responds to Poirier and claims the fight is cancelled," McGregor for all intents and purposes responded to Poirier that the donation was on a voluntary basis only before claiming that the proposed trilogy fight with Poirier was now cancelled for good.

Simply put, was Conor McGregor very publicly trying to buy a much-needed victory from Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 in order to keep his dreams of another $100-million dollar payday against Floyd Mayweather Jr. alive? Because from day one of the news breaking, the MMA Press Room thought the entire situation stunk to high heaven. With half a million dollars promised to an opponent just prior to their rematch, the mere appearance of impropriety alone should be enough to prevent most rational, sane athletes from making such a move. And now with the news of McGregor never actually carrying through with the donation, fans are left with more questions than answers on what McGregor actually intended that donation to be for as the weird, strange and out of the ordinary continues to haunt the sport of mixd martial arts.