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Dustin Poirier is set to go to war against Charles Oliveira this week as 'The Diamond' looks to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a world champion. Ahead of the fight, Poirier looked back at his interim lightweight title fight against Max Holloway back at UFC 236 in 2019.
The fight turned out to be an absolute nail-biter with the Louisiana native edging 'Blessed' via decision at the end of the five scheduled rounds. At the time, Holloway was the reigning featherweight champ and had moved up a weight class in search of lightweight gold.
Looking back at the fight, Poirier is proud of his performance on the night. He also pointed out that Holloway walks around at 180 or 190 lbs and is a bigger guy than most featherweights. The best moment for Poirier, however, from that fight was getting the interim title strapped around his waist.
According to Poirier:
"That was a piece of the world championship. That night I was a champion. I fought and beat one of the current champions at the time. Max is a big guy, probably 180s, 190s. He's not a small guy. He was the 45 pound champ at the time, I beat him and I was on a streak I believe, big streak. It was a great night for me. I became a champion that night,"
Check out Dustin Poirier's entire interview on UFC's Run It Back w/ Dustin Poirier |part 2
Khabib Nurmagomedov believes Dustin Poirier is likely to get the job done at UFC 269
Dustin Poirier failed to unify the lightweight title when he fought then champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242. Although he seemed to have Nurmagomedov in trouble with a deep guillotine, 'The Eagle' managed to escape and picked up a third round submission win via rear-naked choke.
At UFC 269, Poirier gets another chance to accomplish what he set out to achieve in the UFC, and his former opponent, Khabib Nurmagomedov, believes he is likely to win this time.
"I have it 60/40 Dustin Poirier because of his cardio and heart. Charles is a very, very dangerous opponent. Right now, he’s a real champion. He has a nine [fight] win streak, he beat Tony Ferguson, he finished eight guys. It’s a very interesting fight for me, but I think it’s 60/40 Dustin Poirier,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN.
Check out Nurmagomedov's interview with ESPN below:
