Dustin Poirier defeated Benoit Saint Denis in the second round at UFC 299, earning praise from UFC CEO Dana White for his performance and willingness to fight a younger contender.
Dustin Poirier had a lot riding on his UFC 299 fight. The stakes were high.
He was up against Benoit Saint Denis, a promising prospect. Denis had five straight finishes under his belt, but no wins against top 10 ranked fighters.
Poirier’s experience far outshone Denis’. Yet, Poirier, the former interim lightweight champion, didn’t flinch. He bagged the “Fight of the Night” title, knocking out Denis in the second round.
After the event, UFC CEO Dana White was all praises for Poirier. He admired Poirier’s guts to face a young, ambitious contender. The contender who was hoping to knock out a supposedly aging veteran.
White said, “The fight that he took tonight with Benoit, when the talk first started, everybody was like, ‘Oh, this is a bad fight for Poirier, blah, blah, blah.'” Poirier didn’t care. He said, “you know what, I didn’t sign” and all this [other stuff].
White added, “This is the s*** that makes you a f****** legend. These are legendary fights.”
Despite Denis’ lesser experience, he was a betting favorite to beat Poirier. Many thought the UFC was setting up Denis as the next big contender, sidelining Poirier.
White assured that wasn’t the case. He had nothing but praise for Poirier’s performance.
He said, “When you go in, and you face a guy who is a savage and looks like you can’t win this fight, or people think you can’t win this fight, and then you go in and do it in spectacular fashion, the way that he did tonight, a lot of these fighters get very [paranoid].”
White continued, “They say, ‘They want me to lose,’ or ‘They’re trying to make me lose.’ I heard some nutty s*** the other day from somebody that I won’t even mention, but we don’t determine whether you lose or whether you win — you do.”
He added, “What we try to do is put on the best matchmade fight that we can possibly do, and that’s why big stars are built in the UFC and legendary fights happen every weekend.”
Poirier’s win over Denis was a comeback. He had suffered a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in his previous outing this past July.
Poirier’s star power and history in the division keep him close to title contention. His victory on Saturday only strengthened his position.
White wasn’t ready to declare Poirier as a No. 1 contender based on the performance alone. But he knows that kind of win will only make his next fight that much bigger, no matter who he faces.
White said, “Poirier, again like I just said, his stock again goes through the roof. At his age, all the things he’s accomplished, all the things he’s done, look at what he did tonight.”
He added, “I don’t know if you guys are too busy typing or whatever the f*** it is you guys do during fights but if you stood up and saw the arena, it was insane. People were going nuts. Poirier went to a whole other level tonight with this fight.”