Dustin Poirier has detailed about the fish-hooking by Michael Chandler in their recent fight at UFC 281.
Poirier and Chandler had bad blood going into UFC 281. They had high expectations for their matchup and delivered an unforgettable fight of the night. The rivalry between ‘Iron’ and ‘The Diamond’ didn’t end there.
After briefly showing respect to Chandler, Poirier called out the Kill Cliff MMA fighter in the post-fight interview for fish-hooking him, where a fighter puts their fingers in an opponent’s mouth while pulling away.
He also accused ‘Iron’ of intentionally blowing his bloody nose at him. The Louisiana native made an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and had this to say when asked if he thinks the fish-hooking from ‘Iron’ was intentional:
“Yeah. It doesn’t hurt, but the leverage you get on that grip. You know he had his fingers on my top teeth where my mouth guard is. So he tried to get my neck up to lock in a choke. The leverage you get from gripping that is hard for me to keep my chin down… I bit the s**t out of his finger. I had my mouth guard in, so only my bottom teeth could get him. ”
Chandler denied the allegations during the UFC 281 post-fight media interview. Despite the potential fish-hooking, Poirier went on to outlast ‘Iron’ and win with a third-round rear naked choke.
‘The Diamond’ silenced any doubt about his ability to bounce back after losing to Charles Oliveira for the lightweight championship. At 33, the American Top Team fighter could be one win away from another crack at the undisputed title.
Watch Dustin Poirier discuss the fish-hooking situation below:
Dustin Poirier is not interested in fighting Beneil Dariush
The UFC lightweight title picture could play out in various ways. Charles Oliveira wants some time to recover, but he’s also the number one contender.
Meanwhile, Beneil Dariush needs another win for a title shot, which sets up the perfect timeline to fight another top contender while waiting for the winner of Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski.
While speaking with Ariel Helwani, Dustin Poirier said this when asked about wanting to fight Dariush:
“Not really, honestly. No disrespect to Beneil. He’s a great fighter, and you know, he did it the right way. He’s a respectful guy, a hard worker. He goes in there and handles business, I respect that, and I’ll watch when he fights. When we just talked about the other names that I fought recently, that one’s not like super exciting when I think about it.”
Poirier is likely interested in fighting Oliveira again, considering a win against Justin Gaethje or anyone else probably doesn’t get him a title shot. With ‘do Bronx’ wanting time off, ‘The Diamond’ vs. Dariush makes sense, but the Louisiana native isn’t interested, which puts the top of the lightweight division in a tough position.
Watch Dustin Poirier discuss a potential matchup against Beneil Dariush below: