A five-round lightweight fight between Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint Denis has been announced as the co-main event of UFC 299 in Miami on March 9th.
“The co-main event in Miami, March 9, UFC 299 will be number three ranked lightweight Dustin Poirier versus number 12 ranked Benoit Saint Denis,” Dana White revealed in an Instagram video.
“Saint Denis is on a five-fight win streak with all five coming by finishes before the third round. He’s been saying that he believes that he’s the new BMF of the UFC and he’ll have the opportunity to prove it against Dustin Poirier, who is an absolute savage and always goes to war.”
White also confirmed that the fight would still be contested over 25 minutes, something that is rarely implemented outside of main events and title fights.
“These two guys agreed to fight, but both wanted a five-round fight so they got it. That’s the co-main event of the Miami show.”
It’s a somewhat surprising announcement given that Poirier had been expressing his interest in fighting at UFC 300 in April, and would certainly have been a worthy addition to it. He’d also indicated that he was hoping for either a title eliminator or “something that I’m super excited about.”
It’s up for debate whether Saint Denis fits that second criteria or not. The 28-year-old BSD isn’t ranked in the top 10 and doesn’t yet have much in the way of star-power, but on the other hand there has been plenty of enthusiasm for how he’s performed in the UFC so far during an entertaining five-fight winning streak in the octagon and he has been touted by some as a potential title contender in the future.
Poirier vs. Saint Denis serves as the co-main event on a UFC 299 card that will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight between current champion Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera, while elsewhere on the main card Gilbert Burns goes up against Jack Della Maddalena and Curtis Blaydes fights Jailton Almeida.
