Regardless of where you sit from the standpoint of intention and how the finish was handled, the lightweight duel between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier from UFC 211 in May 2017 came to an abrupt end just as it was dramatically heating up. 

A trio of knee strikes from Alvarez (29-5, 1 NC), the former champion in his first bout since losing the title, brought a controversial end to the bout late in Round 2 after one (if not all three depending upon where you stand) landed to the head of Poirier as he was bent over with his hands on the canvas. Referee Herb Dean, after a long cageside meeting with Marc Ratner, UFC's vice president of regulatory affairs, ruled the bout a no contest instead of a disqualification. 

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After a slow start throughout a tactical opening round, the second stanza heated up considerably in one of the best rounds of 2017 as Alvarez, 34, showcased his trademark recuperative abilities to rally from a daze to hurt Poirier (23-5, 1 NC) in a toe-to-toe war. 

One year later, the two fighters have agreed to do it again in search of closure (if not revenge for Poirier) when they meet in the main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night card in Calgary (Fox, 8 p.m. ET). 

The back-and-forth exchanges on social media since their first fight have only raised the ante of disrespect and legitimate dislike between the two fighters. But before we get into what's at stake in this much-anticipated rematch, let's hear from both fighters about exactly what happened in their first bout. 

Both Alvarez and Poirier spoke with CBS Sports on this week's "In This Corner" podcast about their infamous second round from last year and what happened in the aftermath. 

Alvarez entered Round 2 with a small cut under his left eye and was rocked by a big right hand to the head just 18 seconds in. The action only intensified just over three minutes into the round as a hard left hand from Poirier sent Alvarez wobbling to the cage and set up a wild exchange of punches. After eating a head kick which brought the crowd to its feet, a visibly damaged Alvarez unleashed haymakers with his back to the cage wall and hurt Poirier with a right hand as chaos ensued. 

Eddie Alvarez: "Dustin caught me with a good shot. He had me against the ropes and he was trying to finish me."

Dustin Poirier: "I thought I had him hurt really bad, obviously I did."

EA: "He couldn't land the finishing shot. I caught him with a really hard left hook and kind of wobbled him and took him down and he was sort of on his way out."

DP: "He hit me with a shot. I ended up with my back on the fence. He shot a double leg and I went for a guillotine. He tripped me up and I was getting back up on the fence, he started shooting knees." 

EA: "I kneed him twice, legally. I kneed him twice, legally. When he dropped to the ground, at this point I was kind of just fighting instinctually."

DP: "The first two were glancing or one missed, but then one got me real good and that's exactly what happened."

EA: "I threw a knee, it hit him and it was questionable. I don't know what the rules are because I don't care what the rules are. It's up to the referee and the referee called it what he called it."

DP: "Oh, the [third] knee [rocked me] for sure. No doubt, hands down."

EA: "So I think he was playing the game a little bit [by putting his hands on the ground] but once I hit him with the second knee, his spirit was kind of leaving him. He already got hit by a shot, his eye was cut wide open, blood was spilling on the floor and I think he just got a bit overwhelmed. When the referee asked him if he wanted to continue, I truly believe that he was conscious and he was clear headed and he said no to the ref. If you're a fighter and you are conscious, you do whatever you can to continue the fight."

DP: "I think he [did it on purpose] because he was fighting for his life. He was doing anything in his power to hurt me. Fight or flight and he doesn't flight because he's a fighter so I give them that. But we knew that going into the fight."

EA: "I never do anything, ever. Never do I do anything outside the rules intentionally. Never. I'm just not that kind of guy, I've never been that guy and I never will be. To even question that is foolish. If you know who I am and you watched me fight the years that I have, it's just silly to even think about that."

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Alvarez and Poirier are ready to run it back. Getty Images

DP: "I just had more respect for him as a human being before the fight and in the moment. That's why I told [the crowd] to stop booing him and maybe it was accident. But seeing the way he reacted to stuff that happened after, I don't know anymore."

EA: "Yeah, I don't care. I don't care what he says. [Laughs]. I know what it is. If I wanted to get out of a fight, when he hit me with the left hand I would've just curled up into a ball and let the ref stop the fight. I never want to get out of a fight. I would've begged. If I was on that stool in the same position he was, I would've begged the referee not to stop the fight. I've been in that position a number of times in my career, the same position he was where a referee is threatening to stop the fight on me and I begged them with everything in me. 'Please let this fight continue because I'm a fighter.' That's what fighters do." 

DP: "Him saying that I wanted out of the fight [is what hurt the most.]"

EA: "That fight was going in the direction of me winning by knockout, that's where that fight was headed. That fight was going in the direction of a W in my favor, not in his. His spirit was in the middle of breaking and you guys got robbed of another victory by me, that's the only victory you got robbed of. I don't care what happened before that. If you talk to a lot of my opponents, they are all going to say the same exact thing he's saying to the public, 'I was winning.' They are all going to say that, 'I was winning.' You either win or you don't win, it's not 'I was winning.' This is a fist fight." 

DP: "Then one time he tweeted, 'Are you finally off of your stool yet?' I just don't see how you can take shots. That's where I lost the respect for him."

EA: "Yeah, yeah that was good right? [Laughs.] When I tweet and do things, I usually do them for fun and I think people should laugh and everybody should be entertained by it. I don't care what he feels about it. If it got under his skin than good. Hopefully I can send some more tweets that will get under his skin. At the very least, what's he going to do? Punch me? He has to do that anyway."  

DP: "I don't see how you can take shots at somebody when you did something illegal and the fight was stopped." 

EA: "[There's no] bad blood on my part. Look, Dustin is a little angry. I met him in Calgary when we did our media shoot and he seemed very tense and very angry. He's taking this fight very seriously. I'm looking forward to the fight and it's exciting. Not every fight is full of animosity and emotion, but when you do get one that is it makes it all the more better." 

DP: "You know that famous line where he said, 'Don't bring the dog out of me?' Well this is going to be a dog fight. You could say we are similar." 

EA: "Look, I think [the rematch] is going to start quickly and start fast. The first fight had like a buildup and a feeling-out process. There was a bit of a buildup and I don't think that's going to happen. From Round 1 to about Round 2 and I think you'll get your answer by then." 

DP: "Whether he had five fights left on his contact or this was his last one, he's going to sleep the same way [on Saturday], in the middle of that Octagon. I'm going to punish this guy." 

EA: "I knocked [Gaethje] out by knee and technically I knocked Dustin out by knee. That's two knee knockouts in a row, maybe I go for three in a row." 

DP: "I'm going to finish it. I'm going to finish Eddie Alvarez. If by the grace of God he survives, what's going to happen to him is that we are both going to the hospital." 

In the interim since their first meeting, both fighters have remained unbeaten. Both have also been forced to walk through fire in separate fight-of-the-year contenders against all-action Justin Gaethje in which they each absorbed heavy punishment before scoring a late stoppage victory. 

So which performance was more impressive? After stopping another former champion Anthony Pettis last November, the 29-year-old Poirier recorded a fourth-round TKO of Gaethje in April with punches. Five months earlier, however, Alvarez used a third-round knee to stop Gaethje.

"I did it earlier," Alvarez said. "I did it before [Poirier] did." 

"It's tough to say," Poirier said. "I think I've watched his fight with Justin twice and obviously I've seen mine a few times. Both fights are really impressive. Justin is a tough guy, man. He's a tough guy. We both took him out of there, both great fights and fight of the nights. I don't know, I think it's tough to say. He got him out of there with a knee and I got him out of there with my hands. They were both impressive but I liked my work better though." 

Considering the constant chaos at the top of the division including former champion Conor McGregor's absence, Tony Ferguson's injuries and Khabib Nurmagomedov's title win over a late replacement, Alvarez-Poirier II retains just about the same level of stakes it did 14 months ago as both fight for a chance to possibly call next for a title shot. 

Porier enters considerably red-hot since his 2015 move back up to lightweight after being stopped by McGregor. The native of Louisiana is 7-1 (1 NC) since that time and rebounded nicely to his only loss, a 2016 one-punch knockout to Michael Johnson in the first round. 

"It's just growing up in the sport," Poirier said. "I got into this organization, I got into Zuffa when I was a kid. I think I had six professional fights, maybe. I learned early and I went through the fire. I learned a lot about myself and I'm a man now. Raising a daughter, being a husband and being a son; just over the years I've learned a lot about myself and my life. I've realized that fighting is just a part of my life. It used to be everything to me but now it's not, it's just a part of my life. It's just something I do. 

"I'm Dustin Poirier, a father and a husband, a son, a brother; I'm a lot of things. I used to feel like fighting is everything. It's still a huge part of my life and it's how I feed my family but it's just fighting. I think me caring less has helped me out a lot. … I don't care anymore. You're seeing the real Dustin now."

For Alvarez, it's all bout getting back to where he was in 2016 when he knocked out Rafael dos Anjos for the 155-pound title before losing badly to McGregor four months later. Alvarez admits he never stopped dreaming about wearing UFC gold again since that fight, but looks at the loss with gratitude for what it did to revive the emotional energy inside of him.

Not only does Alvarez believe he's the best lightweight fighter in the history of the sport, he intends to prove that once more against Poirier.

"I don't think that's very arguable," Alvarez said. "We are not talking in one promotion, we are talking about a number of promotions. It's being at the top three or five in the world for 8-10 years. Eight-to-ten years! Not a year, not two years, not three years -- almost 10 years being in the top five in the world. At the end of the day, I'll try to fight the best guys in the world no matter where I go. That's all I want to do. I want to fight the best guys in the world, the most dangerous guys and put on entertaining fights for the fans, that's it."