Order now! UFC 302: Makhachev vs. Poirier, Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+
Dustin Poirier’s (30-8) longtime coach, Mike Brown, claims “The Diamond” has made necessary adjustments to his game following his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Poirier suffered a third-round submission loss to “The Eagle” in his first outright title fight at UFC 242 in 2019. He is now scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov protégé Islam Makhachev (25-1), in the main event of UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 1. With Nurmagomedov and Makhachev both having very similar wrestling-heavy styles, Poirier believes he has a good understanding of what’s in store for him.
“Islam and Khabib have similar styles,” Poirier said, “so I need to understand a little bit of their pressure, their strength and their wrestling style. It’s a bit of a coincidence that I’m fighting his protégé now, again with a world title on the line.”
Brown, Poirier’s longtime coach at American Top Team, claims his protégé has addressed weaknesses exposed in the Nurmagomedov bout with an emphasis on wrestling, which Brown believes will also work against Makhachev.
“Khabib pointed out a weakness in us,” Brown said. “We worked on it and that weakness has been closed. We’ve worked on anti-wrestling, we’ve worked on stand-up. It’s no secret. Dustin will beat him. This will be the icing on his amazing career, one of the greatest in the history of this sport. Nobody deserves this win more than Dustin Poirier, and nobody deserves this win more than Dustin. His time has come.”
Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, doesn’t believe Poirier has made any significant improvements since his loss and predicts Makhachev will be better than the Louisiana native in every aspect.
Order now! UFC 302: Makhachev vs. Poirier, Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+
