Dustin Poirier believes Justin Gaethje has a legitimate chance of defeating UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Gaethje earned redemption after knocking Poirier out with a head kick in the second round of their BMF title fight (and rematch) in the UFC 291 headliner this past weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the process, “The Highlight” all but guaranteed himself of the next title shot.
Makhachev is currently set to defend his crown against former champion Charles Oliveira in the UFC 294 headliner which takes place Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi.
Unless Oliveira wins and forces a trilogy, it looks very likely that Gaethje will get a shot at Makhachev should the latter win. And as far as Poirier is concerned, Gaethje has the wrestling credentials to cause Makhachev problems.
“He has the wrestling credentials,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “If his takedown defense holds up, I do think he can cause some problems for Islam. He punches hard. I felt it through my guard. He hit me with two body shots, straight punches. It didn’t hurt any organs — he didn’t hit me in the liver, he hit me in the chest — but I felt the power. His bones are dense, he punches hard, and he throws everything into it.
“One hook got through and at the last second I was able to face-roll it and not take it flush. As soon as it landed, I turned my head with it and that saved me, because I think if I wouldn’t have turned my face, it would have stopped me. I just felt the heat off those things. He throws hard. If he catches Islam, if he stops Islam from taking him down and he throws those kind of punches and they land, he will go down. That’s the kind of puncher Gaethje is. So it just comes down to his wrestling defense, how it holds up.”
Of course, many said the same for Gaethje before he took on former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
However, Makhachev is not Nurmagomedov and that's something Gaethje has already spoken of prior to UFC 291 as he plans on exposing the Dagestan native.
Should Gaethje go on to defeat Makhachev, it would also set up a potential trilogy fight with Poirier with the lightweight title on the line.
“Yeah, but then I’ll look like I’m chasing s**t, and obviously he’s moving on to bigger and better things now, he doesn’t have to fight me,” Dustin Poirier added when asked if he wanted a trilogy. “I don’t know. Of course that would be my No. 1 pick, if I could choose anybody to fight right away.”
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