Ahead of tonight’s pivotal lightweight clash between former interim division champion, Dustin Poirier, and one-time vacant title challenger, Michael Chandler – the former has claimed that if the latter enters exchanges recklessly akin to his performance against common-foe, Justin Gaethje, he’ll handily “clean him [Chandler] up”.
Featuring on the main card of tonight’s UFC 281 pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden, Poirier, the current #2 ranked lightweight contender, will return to the Octagon for the first time since suffering a third round standing rear-naked choke loss to former champion, Charles Oliveira back in December of last year.
As for Missouri native, Chandler the former three-time Bellator MMA titleholder returned to winner’s enclosure with a staggering second round front kick KO over another former interim champion, Tony Ferguson back in May of this year.
Dustin Poirier vows to finish Michael Chandler if he fights recklessly at UFC 281
Turning in the consensus Fight of the Year at Madison Square Garden last year in his title-eliminator against the aforenoted, Gaethje, Chandler suffered a unanimous decision loss to the Arizona native. And according to Poirier, if Chandler chooses to enter tonight’s fight with reckless abandon, he will stop him.
“If he (Michael Chandler) fights me like he fought Justin Gaethje, I’ll clean him up,” Dustin Poirier told Daniel Cormier on the UFC 281 Weigh-In Show. “I’m going back to Lafayette. Tune in – a few exchanges (is all Chandler will last). If he comes out there with a tough guy mindset, let’s his nuts hang, hands down – ‘I’m gonna out-tough you,’ I’m gonna clean him up. I promise you.”
“If he doesn’t wrestle, if he just kickboxes with me, he’s got to be cleaner than he was when he did it with (Justin) Gaethje,” Dustin Poirier continued.
In his most recent professional victory, American Top Team mainstay, Poirier managed to secure a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO win against former duel-weight champion, Conor McGregor at UFC 264 in July of last year.