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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dustin Poirier had a lot riding on his fight at UFC 299.

On paper, he probably shouldn’t have even entertained a matchup against a prospect like Benoit Saint Denis, who came into the night off five straight finishes but without any wins over top 10 ranked competition.

What’s more, Saint Denis’ overall resume paled in comparison to Poirier. But the former interim lightweight champion didn’t blink, and ultimately, he ended up capturing the “Fight of the Night” for putting Saint Denis away in the second round with a devastating knockout.

After the event ended, UFC CEO Dana White praised Poirier not only for his performance, but his willingness to step into the fire against a young, hungry contender hoping to take out a supposedly aging veteran.

“The fight that he took tonight with Benoit, when the talk first started, everybody was like, ‘Oh, this is a bad fight for Poirier, blah, blah, blah,’” White said at the UFC 299 post-fight press conference. “Then Poirier came out and said ‘you know what, I didn’t sign’ and all this [other stuff].

“This is the s*** that makes you a f****** legend. These are legendary fights.”

Despite Saint Denis’ lesser experience, he was a sizable betting favorite to beat Poirier, according to the odds makers. Many believed the narrative for the fight was that the UFC would crown Saint Denis as the next major contender, effectively putting Poirier out to pasture.

White promises that couldn’t be further from the truth and had nothing but a glowing review for Poirier’s job.

“When you go in, and you face a guy who is a savage and looks like you can’t win this fight, or people think you can’t win this fight, and then you go in and do it in spectacular fashion, the way that he did tonight, a lot of these fighters get very [paranoid],” White said. “You’ve heard it many times in the past – [They say], ‘They want me to lose,’ or ‘They’re trying to make me lose.’ I heard some nutty s*** the other day from somebody that I won’t even mention, but we don’t determine whether you lose or whether you win — you do.

“What we try to do is put on the best matchmade fight that we can possibly do, and that’s why big stars are built in the UFC and legendary fights happen every weekend.”

The win over Saint Denis put Poirier back on track following a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in his previous outing this past July.

Thanks to his star power and history in the division, Poirier never sits too far away from title contention, and his victory on Saturday only solidifies that standing.

White wasn’t ready to declare Poirier as a No. 1 contender based off the performance alone. But he knows that kind of win will only make his next fight that much bigger, no matter who he faces.

“Poirier, again like I just said, his stock again goes through the roof,” White said. “At his age, all the things he’s accomplished, all the things he’s done, look at what he did tonight.

“I don’t know if you guys are too busy typing or whatever the f*** it is you guys do during fights but if you stood up and saw the arena, it was insane. People were going nuts. Poirier went to a whole other level tonight with this fight.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

The big winners from the UFC 299 fight card will field questions from the media during the event’s post-fight press conference.  

The fight card was headlined by a bantamweight title fight rematch between Sean O’Malley and Marlon “Chito” Vera.  In their first meeting, Vera handed O’Malley his first and only career loss finishing “Sugar” in the first round.

In the co-main event, former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier takes on Benoit Saint Denis.

UFC 299 Post-Fight Press Conference 

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UFC

Here’s what you may have missed!

Fan reaction was mixed when UFC announced that Michael Page would be joining the Welterweight roster.

Obviously, no one was outright complaining about a new knockout artist in the ranks, but there was a lot of pessimism. Understandable pessimism, if we’re being honest. “MVP” was teased as the next big thing by Bellator for most of ten years, but the promotion refused to actually book him against top competition for most of that span. When he finally did fight high-level Bellator contenders (Douglas Lima twice, Logan Storley), the results were uninspiring: a knockout loss, a split-decision win, and a split-decision loss.

By the time Page walked into the Octagon for the first time, he was already 36 years old. It’s hard to be overly moved about fighters with, at most, a couple years left competing at the highest level.

The name Kevin Holland helped inject some excitement back into the situation. “Trailblazer” is never in a boring fight, and we already somewhat knew what to expect given the Holland vs. Stephen Thompson slugfest in 2022. Nobody was upset about a continuation of that fight, even if relatively few were hyped about Page particularly.

All that’s changed now.

“Venom” absolutely styled on Holland. From the first bell, the difference in the two was stark. On paper, both men are lanky, fast, and powerful Welterweight strikers. Physically, there are many similarities. In their kickboxing process, however, Page was the vastly superior man. From the first bell, his entries and sudden ability to spring forward with power shots flummoxed Holland, who was left leaping after his opponent and still coming up short.

It looked like a bad copy.

Holland does some funky Karate-esque stuff like his jumping side kick, but really, he’s just a tough and athletic MMA guy with a long 1-2. Page, conversely, is the real deal in their shared style, a lifelong martial artist who has really mastered his method of combat. As the fight wore on, Page’s setups — his leaping right elbow, pivots towards Holland’s back, subtle right foot trip after the lead right hand — all continued to work with great consistency, whereas Holland only grew more frustrated at his inability to hit “MVP.”

Process wins fights, and Page knows exactly how to get opponents dancing to his tune. It was remarkable to watch him take apart such a durable and experienced UFC veteran with relative ease, proving beyond any doubt that Page has SOMETHING to offer the top-tier of the Welterweight division.

I’m not predicting any title run. Page is probably too old, and more vitally, his defensive ground work simply isn’t on the necessary level to handle someone like Shavkat Rakhmonov or even Belal Muhammad. He’s not helpless in that realm — he stalled out Storley quite well and prevented a Holland rally in the second — but he’s not going to become champion in such a historically wrestler-dominated division.

Lock him in the cage vs. Stephen Thompson, however? There’s a main event! Hell, with Alex Pereira-style matchmaking, Page could potentially climb high up into the ranks by fighting strikers like Jack Della Maddalena or Ian Machada Garry. He’d have a real shot against those Top 10-ranked Welterweights, a concept few were giving serious thought to prior to last week.

The UFC Welterweight division is simply better with Page in the mix.

For complete UFC 299 results and play-by-play, click HERE!

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dana White wasn’t surprised to see Anthony Joshua lay waste to Francis Ngannou, which is part of the reason why he never wants to see MMA fighters crossing over to boxing.

Just one day before UFC 299 in Miami, Ngannou suffered a brutal knockout loss in his fight with Joshua. The ex-UFC champ suffering two knockdowns before a final right hand put him away for good.

The fight ended in dramatically different fashion than Ngannou’s first boxing match, where he knocked down lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and ultimately took him to a razor-close decision.

This time around, Ngannou looked overmatched as Joshua dropped him in the first round and then did the same again in the second round. After Ngannou got back to his feet from second knockdown, Joshua rushed forward with a devastating overhand right that put the former UFC heavyweight champion to sleep before he ever hit the canvas.

“I saw it on social media,” White said about the knockout. “Going into the Fury fight, if Fury trained for the fight and didn’t show up and look like he ate Tyson Fury, that’s probably the way that fight would have ended, too.”

It was Ngannou’s performance against Fury that helped him land the bout with Joshua, but the fights played out in completely different fashion.

When he was still in the UFC, Ngannou talked often of a matchup with Fury, and that played at least some part in his decision to leave the promotion. It worked out in the end with him nearly beating Fury but the same couldn’t be said for his performance against Joshua.

White said watching Ngannou get flattened with one of the most devastating knockouts in recent history serves as proof why he never liked these crossover fights in the first place.

“You know how I feel about crossovers into boxing,” White said. “That’s how they end. Just like that.”

Despite how White feels about it, Ngannou made it clear that he intends to return to boxing again, though it remains to be seen if that will be his next fight – or if he’ll finally make his debut with the PFL after inking a lucrative contract with the upstart promotion in the wake of his defection from the UFC.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Following his stunning knockout win over Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 last night, former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier has been offered the chance to compete for undisputed spoils once more, in the form of a June title chase with Islam Makhachev, by the incumbent’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz.

Poirier, the current number three ranked lightweight contender, returned to the winner’s enclosure at UFC 299 last night against French contender, Saint-Denis – once more walking though the fire to prevail in a gruelling co-main event clash.

Rallying following an adversity-filled first round which contained a number of rear-naked choke attempts and vicious punches upstairs, Poirier eventually found the mark on the Nimes native, buckling his knees with a well-placed left uppercut in close.

And after missing out on yet another attempted guillotine choke in a guard pull, Poirier circled out and clipped Saint-Denis with a thunderous right hook – felling him and following up with ground strikes for a massive stoppage win in Miami.

Boasted to fight for the lightweight title in the near future amid reaching a new-level of stardom according to promotional boss, Dana White, Lafayette native, Poirier has been offered a clash with Makhachev by his manager Abdelaziz – who suggested a June championship affair.

Dustin Poirier offered title fight after UFC 299

“Dustin Poirier took a huge risk tonight and came out on top and looked amazing,” Ali Abdelaziz posted on his official X account. “Dustin vs. @MAKHACHEVMMA in June especially since everyone else has fights [at lightweight]. If the UFC is good with this, then Islam would be game.” 

Heralded by fans and fellow fighters for his stunning come-from-behind win over Saint-Denis, Poirier received plaudits from arch-rival and three-time foe, former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor last night – who also applauded French president, Emmanuel Macron for some reason to boot.

“Great fight out of them French boys tonight! Toutes nos félicitations @DustinPoirier @BenoitSt_Denis @EmmanuelMacron” 

Would you like to see Dustin Poirier fight Islam Makhachev in June?

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