Fight #5: Poirier vs TKZ
Before Poirier featured anywhere near the list of best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, he made himself known as a young featherweight contender. He had the fearlessness, grit, offensive potency, and an idea of the type of fighter he wanted to be, but was still raw and unpolished when, after winning his first four UFC fights, he ran into Chan Sung Jung.
Poirier’s main event against the Korean Zombie was his first true blood-and-guts war in the octagon, the first of many. Nowadays it is almost every single fight for him, but back then Zombie was the first UFC who Poirier could not completely steamroll with physicality and ability. The South Korean, on the other hand, had already been in an all-time great war with Leonard Garcia. He would go on to fight Jose Aldo in the fight after this one. At only 13 fights into his career Poirier was already in title eliminators, and it was not just him. The UFC featherweight division around that time spawned some amazing young fighters, fighters like Oliveira and Holloway who would also go on to set records in the UFC and feature in all-time great brawls.
Zombie possessed a technical refinement and defensive craft just ahead of Poirier’s. At that time, Dustin already boxed as a right-handed southpaw and got down behind his lead shoulder, but he had not fully developed his infamous ‘Hillbilly Shoulder Roll,” and would not until after switching gyms and working at American Top Team for a while. Poirier kept pace with TKZ for three rounds, but Jung pulled ahead with remarkable timing on the counter as well as his speed, the latter having not been one of Dustin’s strengths ever.
In his early run, Dustin’s grappling often helped him dominate foes, but when he was hurt in the fourth and went for a takedown, Jung easily d’Arced him unconscious, using a choke Poirier himself relied on for wins early in his career. Dustin soon realized his BJJ was not up to snuff against top talents, not without better wrestling, and focused in on striking. After his next fight he would not secure another submission until 2022, after winning three times with chokes in his first six UFC fights.
This loss was instrumental in Poirier’s growth. It showed that he had the tools to become the type of fighter he wanted to be, but showed he needed to make changes. Two losses, to Cub Swanson and Conor McGregor, in the next six fights solidified Dustin’s limitations at the time. Those three losses in total made Poirier move up to lightweight and retool his striking under the tutelage of Mike Brown, which would lead to him becoming an all-time great fighter in the 155-lb weight class.
