UFC star American fighter Dustin Poirier (28-7-0-1) ends 2021 with mixed feelings. The top lightweight of a major global promotion has won financially, earning more in 12 months than ever in his multi-year professional career. But the 32-year-old fighter was strangled for the second time in the fight for the undisputed champion title. Correspondent bbabo.net - about the mistakes of Poirier and his future future.
In early 2011, a brash and promising 21-year-old Louisiana fighter, Poirier, burst into the UFC. As a schoolboy, he was a difficult teenager, often got involved in street fights and even ended up in a juvenile colony. Only sports showed Dustin on the right path, and soon he began to perform in mixed martial arts.
Poirier joined UFC with a record of eight wins and only one decision loss. He won his first four bouts with confidence, finishing in the last of another rising star, Max Holloway, who was then the undefeated 20-year prospect.
In May 2012, he suffered his first defeat in the UFC, losing by technical submission after being choked to the Korean Zombie. Poirier was still in the featherweight division back then, and he really wanted to get to the top of the division. This defeat made Dustin think about his future, as a result of which he changed the hall, starting to train in the American Top Team (ATT).
Right now, Kazakhstani UFC fighters - Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-6) and Sergey Morozov (17-5) are training in the same hall.
Over the next year and a half, Poirier scored four more victories, losing only once to seasoned compatriot Kab Swanson by decision. And then Dustin faced a big fight against another fairly young and ambitious featherweight - Conor McGregor of Ireland, which was one of the most anticipated events of the fall of 2014. McGregor skillfully pissed Poirier out of himself long before the head-to-head fight by trash, and the 25-year-old American could not control his nerves. He went to the fight too emotional, for which he paid with a knockout in the starting five-minute. The first defeat by knockout in his career and so offensive.
Six months later, Poirier will make his UFC lightweight debut and discover new goals. Between 2015 and 2018, Dustin scored eight wins, with a single loss to Michael Johnson. During this time, Poirier managed to finish such dangerous rivals as Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez.
These successes cemented Dustin in the status of one of the lightweight contenders, where his longtime acquaintance McGregor was already the champion. And after some time, the Irishman lost this title, and the Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov was proclaimed the new "reigning king" in weight up to 70 kilograms.
In April 2019, Poirier received a fight for the title of interim champion, and initially another American, Tony Ferguson, was supposed to share the cage with him, walking on an incredible streak of 11 victories in a row. But Tony, famous for his controversial character, decided that giving him a fight for a temporary belt was disrespectful. Therefore, he announced that he would wait for the fight for the title of undisputed champion.
Let's add a spoiler right there: Ferguson never got a fight for the title of undisputed champion, and a year later he went out to fight for the temporary belt, but was beaten by Gaji's efforts. The takeaway for El Cucuy is this: they had to agree to a fight with Porier in 2019.
As a result, the reigning featherweight champion Holloway fought for a temporary belt with Poirier. In a rematch, Dustin again emerged victorious, but this time he failed to finish Max - the guys gave an incredible five-round wheelhouse. Poirier won by unanimous decision. In the status of the holder of the interim champion belt, he automatically became the next rival of Khabib.
In September 2019, the highly anticipated title fight was held. Poirier prepared well for it, trained takedown defense and overall wrestling, but that was still not enough. In the second round, Dustin even hooked Nurmagomedov with a powerful blow from his right hand, after which the Dagestani was allegedly led to the side. But the champion endured all this, and in the third round he strangled the tired American.
After this fight, Poirier was depressed. The next morning, he posted several videos on social media showing how disappointed he was. In addition, there was a large amount of alcohol on the table in front of Poirier - it was really hard for him.
Nine months later, he returned to the octagon, meeting with New Zealander Dan Hooker. Another fight that lasted all five rounds, but another victory by unanimous decision for “Diamond”. He spoke again with confidence, and said that he did not intend to give up. So began Dustin's second campaign for the champion belt.In October, Khabib once again defended the belt, strangling Gatji in the second five-minute. Immediately after the fight, the champion announced his retirement. This shocked the entire world community, including other lightweight fighters and even close friends of "Eagle". UFC President Dana White was also not ready for such a turn of events, and for the first months he believed that he would be able to persuade Khabib to stay at least for a fight.
But when White realized that persuading was pointless, he decided: it was time to revive the lightweight division with a new announcement of a title fight for the vacant belt. Poirier and one of the best finishers of the promotion, Brazilian Charles Oliveira, were to meet. But at one point, Dustin made it clear that now his priority is revenge with McGregor.
“Diamond” chose revenge seven years later with the one who once shattered his self-confidence by inflicting the first defeat by knockout, also in such a mocking style (taking into account the dirt that Conor poured out before the fight and at the press conference ). In January 2021, they met again, but this time the fighters' attitude towards each other was respectful. Conor has become much calmer, and Poirier has matured in this regard for a long time.
In the middle of the second round, Poirier inflicted a crushing defeat on McGregor by knocking him out in a crowded arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE. After that, Dustin's confidence in his abilities only increased, and the monetary fight with Conor brought him a considerable amount to the bank account. Among other things, Poirier's popularity has also increased. Even those who are far from MMA started talking about "the guy who beat McGregor himself in the stance."
In May, the vacant lightweight belt was contested by Oliveira and American Michael Chandler. These guys didn't have checks as big as Conor and Dustin, but the title of world champion was on the line. Charles survived a tough first round knockdown but recovered and finished Chandler early in the second five minutes for a ninth straight win. Few expected that Oliveira would ever manage to become a champion, but he proved the opposite.
It seemed that Poirier showed his power in a rematch with Conor, and now has to fight for the belt with Oliveira. However, that was not the case. Conflict arose again between Dustin and his Irish rival, and McGregor decided to return to the good old trash. But the American didn't really react to this anymore, and somewhere he himself provoked Conor with witty responses to the public.
In July, the fighters met in Las Vegas, and Conor promised that things would be different this time. But this did not affect the outcome of the fight - Poirier defeated McGregor by technical knockout, and all this happened due to a broken leg from the Irishman. In general, Dustin was leading that fight, and according to the results of the first round he could win even with a crushing score of 10-8.
Only after this victory in the trilogy, Poirier decided that it was time to return to real, sporting goals. It's not for nothing that Dustin cried right in the cage after losing the fight to Khabib two years ago. This spoke about how important this belt is to Poirier, how hard and diligently he works to achieve the champion's goal.
In December, the championship fight took place, in which Oliveira defended his belt for the first time. The Brazilian was underestimated by many even after nine straight wins and a tough fight against Chandler, where he survived a tough knockdown. And underestimated in vain.
Poirier took the first round in a standing position, but in the second, top jitser Oliveira showed how he beat his previous opponents. On the third five minutes, Dustin came out almost exhausted, and was soon strangled by an opponent. Again defeat in the title fight, again by strangulation, again blurred vision and doubts about the future.
A day later, Poirier posted a mysterious post on social networks, hinting that he did not yet know what awaited him in the future. Many took it to mean that Dustin gives up and no longer pursues the goal of becoming a champion. Someone thought that "Diamond" would end his career altogether. In one of the interviews, he partially confirmed some fears, saying the following: "You can go back, go this way again. But the question is, do I want this?"
It got to the point that even Khabib, the ex-rival of Dustin, invited him to play in his promotion Eagle FC. But after a few days everything fell into place. Poirier realized that "There is danger in the ocean, but the ships were not built to be near the coast", hinting at his fighting spirit and desire to go forward despite an offensive defeat.
On Twitter, Dustin has already had a conflict with fellow UFC star fighter Nate Diaz, with whom he has not had a fight in the past. Poirier even said that he was ready to fight Diaz in the same month, but in the end, the correspondent closed the topic, calling Dustin a loser.
Of course, Poirier is one of the strongest lightweight fighters in the UFC, and with a favorable set of circumstances, he could become a champion, and more than once. Whether he will become one in the future is an open question. But it must be borne in mind that Dustin is not getting younger, and 32 years for a lightweight is no longer a little.He is a fairly large guy, and it will become more and more difficult to drive up to 70 kilograms every time. Poirier took a potential fight with Diaz so sharply and without a doubt, including because Nate is performing in welterweight, up to 77 kilograms. Then “Diamond” would not have to drive a lot of weight, and he could well return to the victorious path after a fight with a media opponent.
In 2019, Poirier had chances to become a champion, even against Khabib. But in the end this did not happen. In 2021, he could also hope to win the belt, but it did not work out. Although no, he hoped to win anyway. After all, for the first time in his career, he booked himself a charter flight home not on the date of the fight, but the next day. Dustin wanted to celebrate his belt conquest well with family and friends in Vegas, but he hurried.
It is possible that the battles with McGregor brought Poirier a lot of money and a lot of pleasure. After all, it is always pleasant to defeat those who say a lot of unpleasant things about you, and also to win ahead of schedule. But it could relax Dustin, especially on the eve of the real test with Oliveira.
No matter what anyone says, Oliveira is a flamboyant fighter who has not lost for several years, defeating everyone in his path. Yes, he is not as promoted as McGregor, and does not bring millions. But his fighting qualities are now much higher than that of the unmotivated and unstable Conor.
It is unlikely that money turned Poirier's head, but he definitely lost his goal. At the end of last year, he could follow his initial dream and agree to fight for the vacant belt against Oliveira, but in the end he chose a showdown with McGregor. Two victories over him, increased attention from the media and fans, the feeling that "he did something great and special." All this made Poirier lose the value of the title in his head.
He wanted to defeat Oliveira, but probably not so much. It's hard to explain, but logically, that's exactly what happened to Dustin. Oddly enough, but if “Diamond” ended his career now, he would be remembered not as a fighter who lost twice in fights for the belt, but as a rival to McGregor, whom he knocked out twice.
Poirier still has time ahead, but every day it remains less and less. The worst thing for Dustin is that the division will soon be reigning wrestlers and jitters, those with whom he usually has problems. So far, Oliveira is the champion, but other powerful stylistically inconvenient fighters for Porye are also climbing up to the top - Islam Makhachev, Beneil Dariush and others.
Dustin has a right to believe in himself and his success, and he definitely has a chance. But they are now much less than there were two years ago, and even than there were a month ago, before the fight with Oliveira.
Note that for the January fight with McGregor, Poirier received $ 1.07 million, and this is only a fee (without additional payments and bonuses from the sale of paid broadcasts). For the July match with him - $ 1.02 million, and for the championship match with Oliveira - 382 thousand.
Recall that now in the top lightweights there is a native of Kazakhstan Rafael Fiziev (11-1), who occupies the 11th line in the ranking.
Photo: WEC (1), UFC (2-8)
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