The fat lady is beginning to clear her throat when it comes to Dustin Poirier’s career.
Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) is set to make his final walk to the Octagon this Saturday night, as he faces Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in the main event of UFC 318 in his home state of Louisiana.
While “The Diamond” will retire with a legacy as one of the most respected and admired fighters in MMA history, former UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes Poirier’s failure to secure a win in three world title bouts will ultimately keep him out of the conversation when discussing the all-time greats.
“Unfortunately he didn’t win an (undisputed) title,” Brown said this week on his podcast The Fighter vs. The Writer. “When you don’t win a title, you just can’t be in a greatest of all-time conversation … he’s in the top of those conversations because he maximized what he had. Had he had just a little bit more athleticism, a little bit more good luck on his side, it’s a little bit of something, he would have been champion 100 percent. But it just doesn’t play out that way for everyone. There’s too many fighters and some guys get passed up.”
Poirier has already defeated Holloway twice in the past. The second of those wins earned him the UFC interim lightweight title in 2019, but he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in the title unification bout that followed.
He met the same outcome two years later when he faced Charles Oliveira for the lightweight championship, and again at UFC 304 last year, where he tapped to a D’arce choke from Islam Makhachev.
Although he’s fallen short in his biggest moments, Matt Brown still believes Poirier should take pride in everything he’s accomplished inside the Octagon.
“I’d love to see him up there but we all have our journeys,” Brown said. “There’s thousands and thousands of fighters out there — they can’t all be No. 1. A lot of them are really good people but they can’t all be No., 1. That’s definitely the hold back for Dustin unfortunately.
“It’s not tearing him down, it’s just the objective truth. I mean I know the way I’m going to remember him is not necessarily as one of the greatest, definitely great. Not one of the greatest. In terms of warriors and warrior mentality, I think he is absolutely one of the greatest of all-time in that. He’s probably got to be in the top five when you talk about guys willing to fight through anything and keep coming back. I think that’s a lot of what I’m known for, and I put him above me in that regard. I think he’s one of the top five maybe in history of just warriors.”
“He’s a warrior,” Brown said. “I don’t remember him really having many fights he just dominated. It was always a knockdown, drag out war and he just fought through it better than the other guy. I don’t put him up as a top five skilled guy or athleticism, we’re all born with what we’re born with unfortunately, but in terms of hard working, hard-nosed, gritty, bite down on your mouthpiece, walk forward, fight to the death guys, I mean Dustin Poirier is top three.”
Brown competed 30 times in the UFC between 2008 and 2024, while Poirier — who made his promotional debut in 2011 — will make his 32nd and final walk to the Octagon this Saturday.
“The Immortal” believes the Lafayette, Louisiana native undoubtedly belongs on the short list of the best fighters to never capture a UFC title.
“I think he’s definitely on the top of that list for sure,” Brown said. “I put myself on that list somewhere, I like to toot my own horn but Dustin’s above me on that. I would agree on that. We’d have to think about that. Write down some names and compare resumes but he absolutely has to be at the top of the list.
“I’d also put him at the top of the list of just greatest warriors in the UFC. The whole ‘BMF’ belt, which is the stupidest thing ever, but if there’s one deserving guy of that, it’s Dustin Poirier. Just toughest guys, grittiest, hardest-working guys — Dustin Poirier’s in the top three of a lot of these conversations.”
