While Dustin Poirier is riding high after beating Max Holloway at UFC 236 this past April to claim the interim UFC lightweight title, “Diamond” will now be asked to take out undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year in a title unification bout.
Poirier, who has produced a 9-1 (1 NC) record since returning to 155 pounds back in 2015, has fought some of the best fighters in the world throughout his career. That group includes current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway, former UFC champions Conor McGregor, Eddie Alvarez, and Anthony Pettis, and lightweight dynamo Justin Gaethje.
Still, despite all of his experience and recent success inside of the cage, Poirier will have to completely elevate his game later this year if he wants to hand Khabib is first career loss. Poirier, who is ready to pull off the upset and prove that a well-rounded game is better than a dominant fighting style, believes he can force “Eagle” into making his first true mistakes inside of the Octagon.
“There’s not like one thing that’s glaring at me that we need to work on it’s just my overall game and being a better fighter,” Poirier said on a recent edition of Below the Belt’s Food Truck Diaries with Brendan Schaub. “We have to make holes by just performing out there. I will and can [get back up after being taken down]. I create space with my Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t think people know how long I’ve been doing Jiu-Jitsu. As long as I’ve been fighting – before I ever fought. I’ve been doing Jiu-Jitsu 14 or 15 years, I’m a black belt. I’m gonna create space with submissions and put him in danger and make him have to respect me and then I’ll get up.
“It’s gonna be a scrap but I’m gonna make him make mistakes and we’ll see what happens. If he slows down, it’s gonna go downhill for him. I think with my overall game, I can cause threats and problems for him early on as well. I don’t need him to gas out to win this fight.
“Against all odds, I’ll get it done, man. It’s the story of my life.”
Poirier, 30, had to grind tooth and nail to finally earn his first UFC title shot earlier this year against “Blessed,” and that only took place due to Khabib’s suspension. You better believe “Diamond” is going to do everything in his power to fine tune his game over the next four months and try to take out Nurmagomedov this fall (likely at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi).
Should “Diamond” get past Khabib he’d undoubtedly win Fighter of the Year and be in line for a massive rematch with the popular Russian, or even a money-grab title defense against former featherweight rival Conor McGregor.