The best and worst from UFC on Fox 29
The excitement was always expected for last night’s UFC on Fox show – headlined by Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje from Glendale, Arizona – and for the most part, the card delivered.
We got some hot finishes up and down the card, with a handful of fighters making massive steps forward and a few others facing somewhat of a stumble. Despite no really bad fights per say, there were good points and bad points as with any UFC show – here are six of them.
#1 Best: Dustin Poirier is finally living up to his potential
Despite still being relatively young at 29 years old, Dustin Poirier has been in the UFC for a long time – debuting in 2012, six years ago. Last night was his 20th fight in the Octagon and over that period he’s been involved in a lot of wars. Unfortunately for him – prior to last night at least – he’d always seemed to find a way to fall at the last hurdle.
His initial win streak of 4 fights – which included a win over Max Holloway – was stopped by Chan Sung Jung, and two subsequent winning streaks were snapped by Conor McGregor and Michael Johnson. It always felt, too, that Poirier found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, largely with his questionable game planning.
Last night though was a lot different – not only did Poirier engage Justin Gaethje in his type of fight – a wild brawl – but from the off, even when he got hurt, it never felt like Poirier wasn’t in control of the action, and in the end, his hard work paid off.
Will he get a title shot from this win? Probably not given both McGregor and Tony Ferguson are lurking and looking for a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but it seemed to be a sign that Poirier is finally living up to his elite-level potential, and that’s only a good thing.