UFC news: Dustin Poirier compared his loss against Charles Oliveira with Khabib Nurmagomedov: “Same Thing With Khabib”.
Dustin Poirier failed yet again in his quest to conquer the lightweight division. Previously, ‘The Diamond’ faced Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC title at UFC 242. Unfortunately, the Louisiana native lost the fight as he submitted after ‘The Eagle’ caught him in a Rear-Naked Choke. The 32-year-old then competed in three more UFC fights, winning them all to earn his second title shot.
This time ‘The Diamond‘ locked horns with Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 269. After an amazing first round, ‘Do Bronx’ climbed Poirier’s back in the third and caught him in the same hold as Nurmagomedov.
In the post-fight press conference, Dustin Poirier reflected on his loss and said, “I mean, I knew he was going to start trying to creep around with the body lock. I wanted to keep a wizard, but he got around me. I thought at first like he was really high and I thought he was going to slide off and then he kinda sunk in and really got his position.”
“And he started a kind of neck crank. I pulled his hands down once and it’s just his forearm slipped under my chin and once he tucked it. There wasn’t a hand for me to grab to really pull it down. It’s just you know the same thing with Khabib.”
“It’s such a small room for error in these kinds of fights. I felt good, you know, after the first round sitting on my stool going into the second drinking water and thinking, I am going to be the world champion tonight. It’s such a crazy thing what we do.”
Dustin Poirier will not think about what is next for him right now
In an interview, the 28-7 fighter claimed he won’t fight three fights a year if he becomes the UFC champion. However, after his loss, the Louisiana native sounded uncertain about his future in the sport in the post-fight interview.
He said, “I think there’s fights at 55 and welterweight for me. I just don’t even want to think about what’s next for me. It’s been a crazy year for me, three big fights…”
A move to welterweight could unlock a new dimension, as ‘The Diamond’ would not be draining himself for a weight cut. However, he may look to remain at lightweight and work his way back to the title fight. Whatever Dustin Poirier decides, it’s clear that we won’t know of it until 2022