Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Coach Mike Brown think Dustin Poirier should be earning millions in the UFC.
There’s no denying Dustin Poirier is one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC.
Not only has Poirier beaten the likes of Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway and, most recently, Dan Hooker but ‘The Diamond’ always brings the action and electrifies the crowd, having earned Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses in five of his last six fights.
His latest performance against Hooker, in which Poirier earned a gruelling unanimous decision win in the UFC on ESPN 12 main event, has all the makings of Fight of the Year and head coach Mike Brown, who trains Poirier at Florida’s American Top Team (ATT) facility, thinks it’s time for the UFC to pay the man his worth.
Speaking to Luke Thomas in a recent interview, Brown explained why he feels Poirier ought to earn a million-dollar paycheck in his next fight under the UFC banner.
“If it were me, it’s a title shot [next for Poirier],” Brown said on The Luke Thomas Show (via Mike Pendleton of MyMMANews). “In a perfect world if Gaethje wins [against Khabib Nurmagomedov], in a perfect world, that’s what would happen. That would be everything going best-case scenario, but whoever he fights, he deserves a raise and deserves a lot of money for what he’s doing. Every time it’s craziness. Every fight is wild. There’s never a boring minute. I think he deserves a million-dollar payday.”
No matter which opponent is next for Dustin Poirier, @mikebrownmma explains why he thinks “The Diamond” has earned a big payday for his next fight #TLTS @lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/Uecc9e72RL
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) June 30, 2020
“Yeah this is not good for you. This is why this guy deserves a lot of money, this guy deserves to be paid. We all want to see him. As a fight fan, him and Gaethje are the two most exciting guys in the organization. They went head-to-head already and it was Fight Of The Year. I mean every fight for him is a Fight Of The Year candidate. It’s concerning because you don’t know which one will be the last one. These guys are doing a lot of damage to each other. It’s definitely not good for you.”
Poirier’s latest win over Hooker saw the Louisianan earn $300,000 and a $50,000 FOTN post-fight bonus, making him the highest earner of the night. The fan favorite is currently ranked No. 2 in the UFC lightweight fighter rankings.