Dustin Poirier returned to winning ways when he faced Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299: O’Malley vs Vera 2. The pair squared off in the co-main event live on pay-per-view from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on Saturday, March 9.
The scheduled for five rounds non-title lightweight bout didn’t go the distance. The former interim 155-pound champion of Lafayette, Louisiana claimed the win by knockout sending his French opponent to the canvas with a big right hook and finished him with another punch on the ground. Referee Mike Beltran waved the fight off at 2 minutes and 32 seconds into the second round.
With the victory, 35-year-old Dustin Poirier improved to 30-8, 1 NC. 28-year-old Benoit Saint Dennis dropped to 13-2, 1 NC, which snapped his five-fight winning streak.
“I was getting beat up a little bit, getting rolled out by this guy,” Dustin Poirier said in his post-fight with Joe Rogan. “I got him at the end, I touched him a couple of times in the beginning, but dude he was pretty strong.”
“I took this fight cause he finished his last of five opponents. He wasn’t a name that the world really knows, he’s on his way up. But he finished his last fight opponents and he’s dangerous. Every win in his professional career – he has finished. And he has a ‘Never Say Die attitude’. When I saw that and I watched some of his fights, he fought one of my friends, I said ‘you know what, I got to take this fight cause I honor this game that we do.”
“Eddie Alvarez gave me my shot in Dallas, when he was a former champion and I was on my way up. So you got to pay it back, hold your position or lost it, man. That’s the nature of the businesses and that’s what we do.”
“I got a lot of respect for Benoit Saint-Denis, his mindset, his grit. He is a tough guy, and if he chooses to, he’ll be back no doubt about it. I want to give him his props respect for defending his country, respect for being part of the military. But that being said, I want to thank every man and woman from American, making this the land of the free and the home of the brave. I’m serious, in my household sacrifice doesn’t go unnoticed. So, thank you very much.”
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