UFC: Dustin Poirier Reflects On Almost Finishing Khabib Nurmagomedov
Dustin Poirier hasn’t been seen inside the Octagon since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242, last September. The 31 year old lost via a rear-naked choke in the third round. However, he did have the current lightweight champion in trouble at one point in the fight.
Speaking with Matt Serra and Jim Norton on the UFC Unfiltered podcast (transcribed by BJPenn.com), Poirier reflected on that moment and described it in greater detail.
“It was close. It was as close as it can get,” Poirier said. “I would have finished a lot of guys in the UFC with that choke — a lot of guys. And I finish a lot of guys in the gym, all the time.
“Doing jiu jitsu as long as you have, and just having a feel, if there’s a centimetre of space where [Khabib] can roll his hips to the mat and just create a little bit of space and a little bit of breathing space… I should have went full guard. I should have controlled his whole body and his hips. I could have really folded him over there if I had really went full guard. Simple things like that which would have finished 90 percent of the guys — that ten percent or five percent that Khabib is in, you just don’t finish guys with that. It has to be perfect, and it’s my fault. It’s a lag and a mistake in technique and it’s all on me,” Poirier concluded.
Poirier is now fully fit again after undergoing surgery on his hip after his fight with Khabib and was expected to face Dan Hooker on May 17th in the UFC San Diego main event. There was speculation that the UFC was finalising the fight, when the coronavirus pandemic really kicked in.
How close did you think Dustin Poirier came to submitting Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242?
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