Dustin Poirier believes Beneil Dariush ‘makes a lot of sense’ after submission win over Michael Chandler at UFC 281
Dustin Poirier believes a number one contender fight should be next for him.
Poirier ended his 11-month layoff on Saturday on the main card of UFC 281 as he took on Michael Chandler in a highly-anticipated fight. The scrap was back-and-forth and in the third round, with the fight tied, Poirier got ahold of Chandler’s back and submitted him with a rear-naked choke.
The win was big for Poirier who had been sitting on his title fight loss to Charles Oliveira for nearly a year.
“I had 11 months to sit back and sit on a loss. I was trying to get fights that whole time, but nothing came through. Nothing materialized. I’m not sure whose fault it was,” Poirier said at the UFC 281 post-fight press conference. “But I was training back home just sitting on that championship loss. It hurts. It drove me to get better and come in here and get the ‘W.’”
With Dustin Poirier getting back into the win column, he is right back in the title picture. Yet, with Islam Makhachev set to defend his belt for the first time against Alexander Volkanovski, ‘The Diamond’ believes a matchup against Beneil Dariush makes sense.
The winner would no doubt get the next title shot, but for Poirier, he says it’s ultimately up to the UFC to see what they want to do.
“That’s one that makes a lot of sense,” Poirier said. “Beneil’s earned his stripes and put away some tough guys and has been looking great doing it. We’ll see. I’m not against it. It’s ultimately up to the UFC and the timeframe of when I want to return. … I think it’s a great matchup. I think he deserves a tough matchup.”
With the submission win over Chandler, Poirier improves to 29-7 and one No Contest in his career and has still never lost two fights in a row in his career.
