Dustin Poirier ‘Heartbroken’ Following Second Failed UFC Championship Bid

After five minutes in the Octagon with Charles Oliveira in the UFC 269 main event, Dustin Poirier liked his chances.

“I felt good,” Poirier said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “After the first round sitting on my stool going into the second, [I’m] drinking water and thinking ‘I’m gonna be the world champion tonight.’ It’s such a crazy thing that we do.”

Poirier flashed his power in Round 1, dropping Oliveira while landing a whopping 54 significant strikes in the frame. Momentum shifted in the second stanza, however, when he rolled to escape an armbar attempt and ended up on his back. Poirier would spend the rest of the round on the canvas as Oliveira battered him with elbows from above. Poirier’s efforts to scramble out of the position were limited because he didn’t want to risk being submitted, but as it turned out, that approach only delayed the inevitable.

“I knew his jiu-jitsu was some of the best — most submissions in UFC history coming into this fight. That’s kind of the reason I didn’t go crazy trying to sweep and get up,” Poirier said. “I’d rather lose the round than give up my back and lose the fight trying to scramble back up. But he ended up getting to my back regardless of that. The guy is good, man. He’s the champ.”

Oliviera didn’t waste time in Round 3. He quickly closed the distance and took Poirier’s back before securing the fight-ending rear-naked choke just 62 seconds into the period.

“I knew he was gonna start trying to creep around with the body lock,” Poirier said. “I wanted to keep the whizzer, but he got around me. I thought at first he was really high and he was going to slide off. Then he kind of sunk in, and he really got his position. He started kind of a neck crank.

“I pulled his hands down once and his forearm sllipped under my chin and once he tucked it, there wasn’t a hand for me to grab to really pull it down. The same thing [happened against] Khabib [Nurmagomedov], there’s such a small room for error in these kind of fights.”

Prior to UFC 269, Poirier succumbed to a third-round rear-naked choke against Nurmagomedov in a title unification bout at UFC 242 in September 2019. The Louisiana native entered Saturday night with a chance for redemption and the opportunity to cap off a banner year that began with a pair of victories over megastar Conor McGregor. It simply wasn’t meant to be.

“It sucks, man. I worked hard to get back here and fight for another world title,” Poirier said. “I got choked out again. I’m just heartbroken.”