White: Conor an all-time great if he wins next 2

LAS VEGAS — Conor McGregor has won exactly one UFC fight in the past four years — but if he wins his next two, UFC president Dana White believes he will go down as one of the best fighters of all time.

McGregor (22-5) will face the UFC’s No. 1 lightweight contender Dustin Poirier (27-6) in a non-title main event at UFC 264 on Saturday. The lightweight contest is a rubber match of a rivalry that started in 2014. Each owns a knockout over the other, including Poirier’s second-round TKO just six months ago.

According to White, the winner will move on to a lightweight title fight against the current champion, Charles Oliveira.

McGregor, 32, once held the UFC title, in 2016. If he were to win it again, potentially this year, White believes it will cement his place in UFC history.

“He’ll go down as one of the greatest of all time,” White told ESPN. “To have lost the belt and gone through the things that happened to him personally, professionally — to come back and beat the No. 1 contender, who just beat him, and then fight for the title and win? Financially, it’s off the charts. Professionally, it’s off the charts.”

Many have speculated if McGregor were to come up short on Saturday, it would set the stage for a trilogy between him and Nate Diaz. White has never expressed a lot of interest in that trilogy, and he said “it’s silly to talk about that fight” before Saturday’s result against Poirier, 32.

Regardless of who wins, and which of the two goes on to fight for a UFC title, White said Saturday’s pay-per-view is shaping up to be a blockbuster event.

“In our 20 years, there’s never been more celebrities to a fight than there will be on Saturday night,” White said.

“There’s so much at stake in this fight, and I love that. Because the big question about Conor right now is the guy has so much money, ‘Is he the same Conor? Is he focused?'” White added. “We know this kid loves to fight. He doesn’t need to fight right now. He’s fighting because he loves it and has an opportunity. If he can beat Dustin Poirier, the No. 1 guy in the world, he can get a title shot.

“And obviously for Poirier, heavily criticized for taking this fight instead of the title fight, he made the right move. This is the fight to take. If he wins on Saturday night, he gets the title shot anyway.”