It looks like UFC lightweight MMA fighter Dustin Poirier had a great night last Saturday.
First of all, he was able to emerge victorious against rising sensation Joe Duffy last UFC 195, which was held in Las Vegas. After dominating the second round of the fight, Poirier was able to continue being on top of the game by powerful takedowns. At the end of the fight, the scorecards revealed in favor of Poirier. The scores were as follows: 30-26, 30-27, 30-27.
Another highlight of this fight was it had set a record on Fight Pass, the UFC’s streaming service. The fight between Duffy and Poirier was supposedly set to be in Dublin, Ireland last October during UFC Fight Night 76 on Fight Pass, but it was cancelled on the last minute because Duffy didn’t pass the concussion screening test. Unfortunately, lot of people have already subscribed to the said MMA fight. So instead of giving out refunds, the UFC decided to book the fight and add it to the Fight Pass segment of the UFC 195 prelims card. This decision caused a bit of controversy because this decision is usually reserved for headliner fights in any UFC event. However, according to UFC president, Dana White, this decision was apparently a good idea because it paid the dividends.
In a recent interview, Poirier admitted that he had no idea about the controversy behind this decision. White, on the other hand, confirmed that the MMA fight indeed broke the record.
It broke the record. It’s the most-watched fight we’ve ever had on Fight Pass,” White said.
As for the bout itself, Poirier revealed that everything went according to plan. He accepted the fact the Duffy was more advertised and more favored compared to him, but he and his team had prepared a strategy that earned him the win.
“I thought his boxing was going to be good and it was. I knew he had a good ground game, a lot of submissions on his record. I executed the game plan me and my coaches had. I stayed in his face, put him against the fence and grinded on him, got him tired and that was the game plan. When I got off the stool for the second round, I couldn’t breathe at all through my nose. I just got back from the hospital. It’s broken in two spots. I just did what I had to do. Took him down and took advantage of that,” Poirier said.
After managing to set a viewership record and winning over a top contender, Poirier was asked what he would like to do next. Just like in any sport, the main goal is to get to the top and manage to stay there despite all the best fighters that come and go.
“I think there’s a lot of fights out there that make sense. My goal was to crack the top 10 last year and that didn’t happen with the fight falling out. Hopefully I’ll be up there now. I want top 10 opponents,” Poirier answered.