HOLLYWOOD legend Sylvester Stallone believes Dustin Poirier has a ‘big-time advantage’ over Conor McGrgeor in their UFC trilogy bout.
The lightweight pair square off for a third time on July 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the duo each boasting one win over each other.
Two-weight world champion McGregor, 32, stopped the American in their first meeting seven years ago.
The Diamond, 32, then exacted revenge on the Notorious in January after stopping the Irishman in the second round.
And Stallone believes his compatriot is the slight favourite going into the trilogy as he stated that Poirier is hungrier than his opponent.
Asked by TMZ on his thoughts on the fight, the 74-year-old said: “That’s a tough one. That is a real tough one.
“That one I swear you really flip a coin on. It’s like who hits first.
“You got a really hungry, young guy [Poirier] and then you got a guy who’s made a lot of money but he’s also sort of hungry [McGregor].
“You have two guys that are psychologically a little hesitant, but Poirier has the big-time advantage.”
McGregor is looking in incredible shape for the fight as he hopes a win will see him face newly-crowned lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
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His long-time training partner Artem Lobov is backing his friend to knock Poirier out in the first round.
Lobov believes that McGregor took Poirier lightly in their second fight earlier this year, believing it would be a repeat of their first bout back in 2014.
Speaking on the Bareknuckle Uncensored podcast: “Conor is a very, very smart fighter.
“I just feel the last fight he maybe took it a little bit lightly and thought, ‘I’ll just show up and do what I do and destroy him.’
“Not only that, he was already mentally and physically getting ready for a boxing fight so he wasn’t thinking leg kicks – no MMA.
“He just thought it was going to be the same way as the first fight.”