ATT’s Mike Brown Admits Dustin Poirier Most Stress-Inducing Fighter by a Long Shot

While Dustin Poirier (30-8) is one of Mike Brown’s best fighters at American Top Team, “The Diamond” also gives his coach a lot of stress.

Poirier is scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev (25-1) for lightweight gold in the main event at UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. “The Diamond” earned his shot with a second-round knockout over French finishing machine Benoit St. Denis at UFC 299 in March. Prior to knocking out St. Denis, Poirier attempted multiple unsuccessful guillotine chokes, compromising position each time. When Brown told Poirier to avoid the guillotines after Round 1, “The Diamond” responded by saying he could secure one and proceeded to go for another right at the beginning of Round 2.

While things worked out well for Poirier in the end, Brown admits that the Louisiana native is his most stress-inducing fighter by far. Aside from Poirier being hard-headed at times, the pressure also comes from their close bond, which started with his promotional debut in 2011.

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“Oh, he’s No. 1 [to stress me out] by far. By a long shot, by a long shot,” Brown recently told Shakiel Mahjouri. “But I also care about him, so the more you care the more you’re going to be stressed. He can make it harder on himself sometimes. And he is his own guy, at the end of the day he does what he wants to do. Yeah. he's his own guy. When he’s got something in his head, he’s going to do it. The guillotine is a good example. If he wants to jump a guillotine, he’s jumping the guillotine.”

While Brown couldn’t recall who stressed him out the most after Poirier, he was quick to mention the fighter who had the opposite effect on him while coaching.

According to the ATT head mixed martial arts coach, former Professional Fighters League lightweight champ Kayla Harrison (17-1) stresses him out the least, thanks to her disciplined and coachable approach to the sport.

“The least would probably be Kayla Harrison. She’s going to do whatever you ask of her. And obviously, who she’s fighting and where’s we’re at. Probably I have less stress with Kayla.”

Harrison recently made her UFC debut at UFC 300 last month against former bantamweight champ Holly Holm. Harrison picked up a dominant Round 2 submission win after “The Preacher’s Daughter” seemingly elected to clinch with the former Olympic gold medalist judoka.