Michael Bisping claims Dustin Poirier is the 'uncrowned king' of the UFC lightweight division
Michael Bisping hailed Dustin Poirier as the 'uncrowned king' of the UFC lightweight division, in a recent tweet. The former UFC middleweight champion revealed his choice in response to an Instagram post from fightclub which featured eight of the top lightweight prospects.
The post featured the likes of UFC's newest star Michael Chandler, Justin 'the highlight' Gaethje and even Conor McGregor after dropping two places down the ladder, post his recent loss to Poirier.
Michael Bisping is a sports analyst and former UFC middleweight champion who was inducted to the UFC's Hall of Fame in 2019. He even refuted Conor Mcgregor's claim that his loss against Dustin Poirier came off inactivity.
Conor Mcgregor put his TKO defeat to Dustin Poirier down to ring rust before acknowledging his difficulty in dealing with the calf kicks. However, Michael Bisping dismissed the idea of 'ring rust' as purely psychological and cited his 2017 defeat to Georges St-Pierre as proof. Bisping stated via MMA fighting:
Georges St-Pierre came off the couch after three and a half years and choked me out unconscious. A lot of people say that ring rust is a mental thing and it is. It’s a mental thing.
Why Michael Bisping thinks Dustin Poirier is the 'Uncrowned King'
Michael Bisping's tweet came after Dustin Poirier's second round TKO of Conor Mcgregor at UFC 257. 'The Diamond', who is revered for his chin and durability, was expected to take the fight into deep waters but ended up securing a win in the second round after trashing Conor Mcgregor's lead leg with calf kicks.
Dustin Poirier and his team were applauded all across the MMA community on their strategy. Poirier, however clarified that the calf kicks were not a predetermined strategy and the idea rather was to cash in on any opportunity presented. The game plan was to deploy all his arsenal and be a complete mixed martial artist.
Dustin Poirier has won seven of his last eight fights since 2017 and even became the interim lightweight champion after picking a unanimous decision win against Max Holloway. His only loss in between came against the reigning UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
With 'The Eagle' sidelined after his retirement, many deemed the Dustin Poirier vs Conor Mcgregor bout to be of championship caliber. Dustin Poirer himself claimed to be the 'Uncrowned King' of the division in a tweet, a day after the fight.