Retired UFC star Dustin Poirier has been reflecting on his 2024 loss to former UFC lightweight and current welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, and says that the star was unlike anyone he’d ever faced before.

Poirier was finished by a brabo choke in the 5th round of that one-sided fight, and from the sounds of things Makhachev’s technique was on a different level.

“It’s different. He strangled me,” Poirier told Joe Rogan on his JRE MMA podcast. “The way he did it, I think [Renato] Moicano filled in last minute to fight Islam and got caught with the same choke. It’s kind of like a D’arce choke, but he locks it on his forearm. He doesn’t go to the bicep. The squeeze is different. He’s pulling to his chest. It’s not like an angle squeeze. It’s different. So the defense is different.

“When I got my legs out and tried to walk around, he hooked my leg, but the squeeze is completely different. You know, you belly down, kind of get some space to breathe? You can’t the way he does it.

“When he gets the grip locked in, it’s complete, immediate blood shut down.

“You know how you usually feel it slowly fading away? It was like quick, right away. The darkness started coming in as soon as he got the grip.”

It’s worth noting that in the podcast Poirier also claimed he’d been told by UFC CBO Hunter Campbell that Makhachev weighed 191lbs by the night of the fight, but Makhachev has since disputed that, stating that he’s never weighed more than 176lbs.

Check out Poirier’s full appearance on Rogan’s podcast below.