Dustin Poirier attends his UFC 236 press conference after winning the interim lightweight championship.
Four reasons not to sleep on Dustin Poirier at UFC 257
Dustin Poirier didn’t last 90 seconds the time he fought Conor McGregor at UFC 178 in 2014.
Over six years has pasted since their first meeting and now McGregor believes he’ll finish Poirier in 60 seconds. The bookies are going onboard with McGregor as not only is the Irishman the betting favorite, but there are lost of bets being placed on McGregor to win with a first round finish.
Of course McGregor Mania is a real thing and UFC 257 is expected to do huge numbers on Saturday night. While McGregor is the draw and is getting all the attention, you can’t help but think about the underdog here.
Here’s 4 reasons why you shouldn’t sleep on Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.
1) He’s now experienced with fighting on the highest stage
UFC 178 marked the first time Poirier was in the limelight.
Up to that point his career he only fought on two main cards for a pay per view and he only headlined one Fight Night which he lost.
McGregor at that point bursted on the scene and was on his way to superstardom.
In the lead up to UFC 178, Poirier was shooting commercials for the event and doing lots of media. This was the first time he had to experience the big stage. Not only was he dealing with the pressure of a big time fight, but he had the famous McGregor trash talk coming at him on full blast.
Since then Poirier has seen it all. He’s now headlined pay per views, defeated four champions and he even captured a UFC interim lightweight title of his own.
2) Poirier’s body transformation
Did you see how skinny Poirier looked at UFC 178? Yes I know the fight took place at featherweight, but he looked fragile at 145 pounds.
After that fight, Poirier made the decision to move up to 155 pounds and lightweight has treated him very well. Not only has it treated him greatly over the years, he’s completely transformed his body.
When Poirier first came up to 155 pounds, he was a skinny lightweight and that is no longer the case. His work with Phil Daru over the years has paid off drastically. Poirier is now a big strong lightweight and he’s likely going to weight more than McGregor on fight night.
The transformation has also allowed him to take a punch a lot better than he did six years ago too. Poirier has stepped toe-to-toe with Justin Gaethje, Dan Hooker and neither one of those two hard hitting contenders could put him away.
3) Poirier has the stamina to go five rounds
Don’t have to go back to make this point. Poirier and Hooker just fought in a war in June. If you need another example then take a look at his fight with Holloway in 2019.
The thing that is scary to think about with both of those fights is the fact not only where they 25 minutes, but they were 25 minutes of high paced action. Not only was it action packed, but Poirier maintained his power throughout the course of those fights.
We’ve been hearing about the new McGregor Fast program, but at the end of the day McGregor still hasn’t shown that he go through a grueling five round affair.
The longer the fight goes the more the odds will shift into Poirier’s favor.
4) McGregor hasn’t cut weight in over two years
The last time McGregor cut weight was in 2018 against Khabib Nurmagomedov. He lost in the fourth round and looked tired at the end of the fight.
Before that, the last time McGregor cut weight was in 2017 in his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather where he completely ran out of gas and the referee was forced to save McGregor in the tenth round.
For his UFC 229 fight against Nurmagomedov, McGregor was the last fighter to weigh in. Also in the lead up to the Mayweather fight, Mayweather threw out the rumor that McGregor was having a hard time making weight for their fight and when McGregor was questioned about it at the weigh ins he didn’t say that the rumor wasn’t true.
Weight cut are tough on the body and every fighter hates cutting weight. I’m not saying a weight cut is guaranteed to be a factor, but it’s something to keep an eye on in the next few days.
