Dustin Poirier called for a title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov last night at UFC On FOX 29 after a tremendous striking battle with Justin Gaethje ended in a fourth round TKO victory.
“This is my 20th fight in the UFC,” Poirier said in the Octagon after the fight. “I’ve been knocked out, climbed back, over and over again. Two weight classes. Dana [White]! Khabib! Let’s f—ing go! It’s time!”
The good news for Poirier is that White was suitably impressed with his performance last night and does see him as one of the potential title contenders at 155lbs.
“Absolutely,” White confirmed to reporters. “He’s definitely in there.”
In fact, according to White, ‘The Diamond’ was already in his sights before this potential ‘Fight Of The Year’ clash took place.
“He’s one of the guys we were thinking about calling last week to take the fight [against Khabib] but I didn’t want to screw up this event and thank god I didn’t.”
Still, his performance against Gaethje has only confirmed White’s believe that Poirier is up there with the best the division has to offer.
“Obviously, tonight was a big night for him,” White said. “Gaethje is very well respected in that division. Tough guy. Poirier ate, much like the Eddie Alvarez fight, tons of kicks. Could barely walk and pulled off the win.”
The only down side to all this is that Poirier took a lot of punishment in order to emerge victorious, revealing backstage that he had a suspected broken arm along with a a potential knee injury and damaged eye, so it could be a while before we see him back in the Octagon.
