Poirier: ‘I Know I Can Beat Khabib’

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) interim 155-pound champion Dustin Poirier is the talk of the lightweight town after his thrilling “Fight of the Night” performance against Dan Hooker last weekend in Las Vegas, one that pushed him to No. 2 in the promotion’s official rankings.

As a result, “The Diamond” has positioned himself to challenge the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje, who are expected to collide for “The Eagle’s” division title in the upcoming UFC 253 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this September in Abu Dhabi.

An upset victory for Gaethje would pretty much seal the deal, as “The Diamond” already holds a technical knockout victory over “The Highlight,” but Poirier’s convincing 2019 loss to the Dagestani bruiser could make things a bit trickier if Nurmagomedov retains.

“I feel like I’m the best in the world,” Poirier told ESPN (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I made mistakes and I got beaten by Khabib, but I know that I can beat Khabib Nurmagomedov. I know I can. I can beat anyone of these guys. I don’t want to get anyone back. I’m not in the grudge match business. I want to be the best in the world. I want to be the undisputed world champion.”

Working in his favor is the fact that Nurmagomedov has pretty much cleaned out the division and may have no choice but to start lining up rematches. Unless Tony Ferguson gets back into the win column with something spectacular between now and then or Conor McGregor unretires and provides UFC an opportunity to rack up another few hundred million.

Time will tell.