We look at Dustin Poirier’s career in totality we could say that he might be one of the best lightweights of all time. Yes, he lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov but to be fair no one ever did beat Khabib. Poirier is great in his own right and right now many consider him one of the best lightweights on the PLANET. His career is not yet over, he is yet to take the undisputed lightweight crown.
Dustin Poirier started his UFC career back in 2011 and it was also his featherweight debut. He certainly showed promise in terms of fighter potential but unfortunately he was no needle mover so he worked his way up. We all know Poirier is willing to DIE inside the Octagon and every time he is willing to give it his all.
He suffered his first lost to Chan Sung Jung who was one of the top contenders at that time. It was a hurtful loss for Poirier but a learning lesson. Sung Jung went on to fight Jose Aldo after this fight, so by no means Sung Jung not a top fighter. After that he lost to featherweight veteran Cub Swanson via a decision.
Poirier then made 3 fight win streak before losing to Conor McGregor. It was a high profile fight since he was fighting none other than the rising star Conor McGregor. Many people watched the this fight and Poirier got finished in the very first round. Poirier looked back and said the trashtalks may have caught up to him.
He then decided to move up to the lightweight division, where it showed probably his best decision for his career. He had a lot of successes, he did suffer one more loss to Michael Johnson but it was a learning lesson.
Poirier may have minor setbacks but he never gave up. He was willing to fight contenders to climb the rankings. Poirier was a great fighter but he was not given a special treatment. He needed to fight many former champions before fighting for the title.
He then went on a run beating guys like Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje and then FW Champion, Max Holloway. No one could deny that Poirier deserves to fight for the title, only one man during that time also had an argument and it was Tony Ferguson. Unfortunately, Ferguson was not willing to fight for an interim belt for the second time.
Dustin Poirier got submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in for his first undisputed title shot, it was indeed a tough pill to swallow but Poirier did not give up on his career yet. He went to war with Dan Hooker and eventually having the massive payday of a back to back McGregor fight.
Now he is expected to face Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight title, he is coming in as a favorite as well. Don’t count Oliveira out but Poirier also has the tools to finally capture the undisputed crown.
