The fight game is often laden with brutal trash talk. One man who won’t descend to that level is UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier, who has nothing but nice things to say about his UFC 292 opponent, Justin Gaethje. A visibly excited Poirier appeared on The MMA Hour to sing Justin Gaethje’s praises and sell the next BMF title bout.
“I know what I’m going into — it’s a head-on collision and I’m not turning away. That’s what this fight is and that’s what I want. That excites me, dude. It gets me pumped up right now.
Dustin Poirier Lauds UFC 292 Opponent
This fight, I think, could headline without a BMF title. This is an exciting fight. But that just adds more fun to it to me. I would love to have that strap up there in my living room. So it’s another accolade.
I’m not going to walk around like I’m the undisputed champion if I get this belt wrapped around my waist in July, but it’s fun. And if you look at our track records of competing for Fights of the Years over the last, for me over the last 10, 11 years, we have a lot of huge fights that have been voted on for Fight of the Year, one was against each other.
Just look at the bonuses and the Fights of the Night and the carnage that me and him both display in there, it makes sense to have something fun like that. We’re always talking about lightweight’s most violent fighter.
I said I completed the triangle by beating him, beating [Eddie] Alvarez, beating [Michael] Chandler, beating Conor [McGregor]. So we run it back for the most violent, call it the BMF, call it whatever you want.”
Poirier already dispatched Gaethje once, via a vicious knockout in their last meeting. What’s changed this time around? “I think he looked a little different, right?
Everybody says his boxing and things are changing — he looked [different], he did. He used the jab a lot better, he used his lateral footwork a lot better. So he did, but I still see Justin Gaethje, the same guy. He’s doing a few things better, but I still see me being a matador and touching this guy.
[He’s still the same fighter as 2018,] just now he does it with a seat belt on, you know?” Simply put, Dustin Poirier is looking forward to going to war. “It’s war, man.
I’m very motivated. This is legacy. That’s what this is for me. This is just cementing legacy.”
