UFC News: Dustin Poirier says loss to Khabib will keep haunting him forever
Dustin Poirier has said that he has some haunting questions for himself about the way he fought and lost against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242.
Poirier went up against the defending Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, in the main card of UFC 242. The entire fight was dominated by the latter entirely in his usual wrestling style and ended in a rear-naked choke submission win for Khabib, as Poirier tapped out at 2:06 minutes of the third round
Following the loss, Poirier said to the press that there are some questions about his performance in the fight that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
MMA Fighting reported on the matter.
Poirier talks about the loss
Although this is not the first time “The Diamond” has lost, this is the beating that is really making him question his performance.
“I’m familiar with adversity. It’s just I have to live the rest of my life asking myself if I could have done more, if I could have maybe escaped some of those takedowns. If I could have pushed harder when I had my underhooks against the fence. Those are the questions that will haunt me. I’ve lost before.”
The fight was one of the most one-sided defeats that Poirier has ever encountered in his whole career. It was also his first loss since Michael Johnson bettered him at UFC Fight Night 94, way back in 2016. Khabib broke his streak of five victories in a row and re-established himself as the sole Lightweight Champion.
“The guy’s good, man. He’s the world champ. Maybe I could have done more. You know, hindsight’s 20/20. I was very prepared for this fight, to fight 25 minutes. He did exactly what I thought he was going to do."
Poirier said that he could not help but wonder if he had tried a little bit harder to get off the fence when Khabib pinned him with the underhooks, or did something different somewhere. He said that he had expected Khabib to get weaker as the rounds passed and they got slicker. But there is currently no way for him to find that out what could have happened anymore, and it is something that he is going to beat himself up for the rest of his life.
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