Dustin Poirier believes he was close to finishing Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242.
The pair fought in September 2019 to unify the lightweight division. Nurmagomedov dominated much of the fight but Poirier did enjoy some success. At the beginning of round three of the fight, Poirier locked in a guillotine choke and began to squeeze with everything he had. The champion looked flustered as he tried to wriggle out of it but ultimately did so and quickly got back to dominating the fight. The Russian ultimately scored the submission win, locking in the rear-naked choke in the same round.
Speaking about his fight with Nurmagomedov on a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered podcast, Poirier said his submission attempt was very close to finishing the fight.
“It was close. “It was as close as it can get. I would have finished a lot of guys in the UFC with that choke — a lot of guys. And I finish a lot of guys in the gym, all the time.
“Doing jiu-jitsu as long as you have, and just having a feel, if there’s a centimeter of space where [Nurmagomedov] can roll his hips to the mat and just create a little bit of space and a little bit of breathing space… I should have went full guard,” Poirier continued. “I should have controlled his whole body and his hips. I could have really folded him over there if I had really went full guard. Simple things like that which would have finished 90 percent of the guys — that ten percent or five percent that Khabib is in, you just don’t finish guys with that. It has to be perfect, and it’s my fault. It’s a lag and a mistake in technique and it’s all on me.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Poirier hasn’t fought since losing to Nurmagomedov late last year. He is scheduled to face fellow contender Dan Hooker at UFC San Diego May 16. However, amid the coronavirus pandemic, it seems unlikely that the event will go ahead as planned.
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