Dustin Poirier exceeded everyone’s expectations at UFC 302, including his American Kickboxing Academy coach Javier Mendez.
Poirier will be looking to achieve his third complete domination when he challenges Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 302. Poirier was a massive underdog going into the event and was widely expected to be dominated by Makhachev much like he was dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019.
The outcome seemed foregone when Poirier was taken down early and controlled much of the first round, but “The Diamond” came back in the second round, thwarting multiple takedown attempts by Makhachev and giving the champion a tough test. Though Poirier succumbed to Makhachev’s Bravo choke in the fifth round, the Louisiana native surprised fans and pundits by keeping the bout close.
Mendes, who was in Makhachev’s corner, also admitted he was surprised by Poirier’s performance, saying that in the worst case scenario, he expected it to be a tough fight, but it ended up being even tougher than he expected.
“Dustin was our worst case scenario, we expected it to be a tough fight. Worst case scenario,” Mendes said on his YouTube channel. “So, my worst case scenario became even worse because it was a lot tougher than I expected. I didn’t expect it to be this tough. It was a really tough fight. I was confident from start to finish. I wasn’t nervous coming into the fight.”
While the pre-fight exchange was mostly respectful between the two fighters, things got a bit heated between Makhachev and Poirier during their pre-fight meeting, when Poirier called Makhachev a “motherfucker,” which upset the champion, who sternly asked “The Diamond” to refrain from using the foul language.
However, the two appeared to make amends after the bout, with Poirier seen hugging both Makhachev and Nurmagomedov, and Mendes revealed that Poirier had apologized to Makhachev for his swearing after realising the significance of his words in the Dagestan cultural context.
“In Dagestan, the word motherf’er isn’t used casually like it is here,” Mendes said. “You call someone your best friend a motherf’er. Like, ‘Hey motherf’er, how’s it going?’ It takes on a different meaning here. Over there, it’s like, no, no, don’t mess around with that. Dustin realized that was the case and went to apologize. Hats off to him. What a great guy. His corner is great.”
