Khabib Nurmagomedov Beats Dustin Poirier by Submission
Khabib Nurmagomedov once again showed the world why he is the undisputed best 155-pound MMA fighter at UFC 242. “The Eagle” turned in another dominating performance as he defeated interim champion Dustin Poirier to unify the UFC lightweight title.
Similar to his win against Conor McGregor, Khabib won via submission, although he did it a round earlier this time around.
The UFC 242 betting odds had Khabib as a major favourite to defend his title, and he looked every bit as dominant as those odds made him out to be. As predicted in SBOBET’s preview of this title bout, Khabib imposed his will on Poirier, who simply had no answer for the Russian’s incredible wrestling ability.
Highlights of the game
After Khabib and Poirier spent the first minute or so feeling each other out, Khabib finally tried to take Poirier down for the first time, and to the surprise of no one, he succeeded. He was soon able to take Poirier’s back and started doing more damage to “The Diamond.”
Khabib attempted a couple of submissions while he was in this advantageous position, but Poirier was able to defend them well.
However, the American was unable to fully shake off Khabib as the Russian would continue to smother Poirier with his wrestling. Khabib then landed some stiff elbows in the final seconds to put an exclamation point on his sheer dominance during the opening round.
Despite losing the first round quite convincingly, Poirier didn’t seem too discouraged as he started the second stanza aggressively. In fact, he produced most of his few notable UFC 242 highlights after landing a right hand that had Khabib a little wobbly for a few moments.
Khabib took a few more blows from Poirier, who was suddenly on the front foot. But the Russian wisely retreated to avoid more damage.
It then didn’t take long for Khabib to recover from that hard shot — and reclaim control of the fight. He was once again able to take Poirier down with relative ease and resumed where he left off in the first round. Poirier soon had a cut near his eye amid Khabib’s persistent pounding.
Poirier tried to get Khabib in a guillotine with about a minute left in the round, but he was unsuccessful. And by the end of the round, he once again found himself pinned against the cage with Khabib pouring on the damage.
After spending the better part of 10 minutes being picked apart in trademark Khabib fashion, Poirier looked pretty worn down in his corner in between rounds. He lamented his inability to keep Khabib off him to his coaches, something which many of the Russian’s opponents also experienced the hard way.
With desperation likely setting in, Poirier proceeded to try for another guillotine at the start of the third round after Khabib went in for another takedown. Poirier exerted a lot of effort into the submission attempt, but Khabib was successfully able to defend it.
The Russian eventually got himself free from the choke and once again proceeded to take the back of an exhausted Poirier. That was the beginning of the end for the American, who would not recover from the position.
Khabib, sensing victory was near, wasted little time in going for the finish. The spent Poirier was powerless to defend Khabib’s rear-naked choke and eventually tapped to The Eagle.
And in one more similarity to his famous victory over McGregor, Khabib swiftly made his way out of the Octagon shortly after his win. But instead of fighting with his opponents’ mates, he hugged UFC president Dana White as adoring fans jumped at the chance to get close to the undisputed lightweight champion.
Key statistics
With this win, Khabib improves to a perfect 28-0 in his mixed martial arts career, 10 of which have come via submission.
Much like most of his first 27 fights, it was pretty much utter domination from Khabib. The Russian landed 54 of 77 strikes and 22 of 41 significant strikes, per UFC’s stats, compared to Poirier’s 30 of 57 strikes and 12 of 39 significant strikes.
But the most telling stat was Khabib’s takedowns. He took Poirier down seven times in eight attempts as he slowly but surely sapped Poirier’s energy with his elite-level endurance and grappling.
What’s next?
After the fight, UFC president Dana White reiterated that Tony Ferguson will get the next shot at Khaibb Nurmagomedov’s title. Ferguson, who is riding a 12-fight winning streak, has been scheduled to fight Khabib four times in the past, most recently for a title fight last year. However, all four fights have been cancelled due to injuries to the fighters.
But if Ferguson is once again unavailable to face Khabib, Conor McGregor could potentially step in and challenge the champion to a rematch.
As for Poirier, he says he still has his sights set on becoming a world champion, but it could be a long road back to the top after his comprehensive loss to Khabib.
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