Dustin Poirier is one of the most celebrated fighters in MMA history, with the majority of his career taking place in the lightweight division. “The Diamond” faced some of the greatest lightweights of all time during his run with the UFC, challenging for the UFC Lightweight Championship on three occasions while winning the Interim UFC Lightweight Championship in 2019. Given the caliber of opponents he has faced, Poirier was asked during an episode of “UFC Deep Waters” who are the five greatest lightweights in UFC history, not including himself. Poirier gave his five, leaving out two of his biggest rivals in the process.
“Of all time? Khabib [Nurmagomedov], Islam [Makhachev], BJ Penn…man this is where it gets tough. Ilia [Topuria], okay we can put him in there…I mean do you go Benson Henderson or Frankie Edgar? Frankie. I was thinking in my mind, I was thinking way back…Frankie for sure.” While everyone on the show seemed to be in agreement with Poirier’s picks, fight fans noticed that both Conor McGregor and Charles Oliveira were both left off of the list.
While the peak of McGregor’s success in the UFC came in the featherweight division, he is still a former UFC Lightweight Champion and had a trilogy of fights with Poirier, the latter two taking place at 155 pounds with Poirier getting the win on both occasions. These victories avenged the loss he suffered at the hands of McGregor at featherweight back in 2014. As for Oliveira, he defeated Poirier at UFC 269 to retain the UFC Lightweight Championship in what many considered the final chance for “The Diamond” to hold undisputed gold in the UFC. Poirier also omitted Max Holloway from the list, another man he had a trilogy of fights with, but Holloway has never held gold at lightweight, hence why he was left off the list.
Please credit “UFC Deep Waters” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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