Again. Poirier has won plenty of those “biggest fights” before. But he also lost two of them against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira, dropping his chance to put “undisputed” on his resume. These days, the 35-year-old could decide to retire right now, and he’s put together the body of work to earn a place in the UFC Hall of Fame. That’s not going to happen, though. Not now, not yet. There’s a fight to be fought, and while Poirier’s talent is enough to get the job done against any 155-pounder in the world, what may serve him best against Makhachev is the fact that he hates losing more than he loves winning.
“You have to have that kind of mindset doing what we do,” said Poirier. “Of course, I know every time I step out there into those lights, anything could happen and it does happen. But I hate losing and I work so hard and I believe that I can beat anybody in the world. So still, when I lose, I can’t believe it when I get to the locker room. I can’t believe that I lost. I expect to win every fight and beat these guys.”
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And losing is simply not acceptable. Most athletes are resigned to the fact that someone is not coming back with a win after a sporting competition, that someone has to lose. Poirier isn’t about to be one of those people.
“I don’t even know if it’s an actual sport,” he said. “This is man versus man, as pure as it gets. Honestly, I don’t like to call it a sport.”
But others do, and while Makhachev is a dominant champion who has won some tough fights, he’s never been pushed to the dark places Poirier likes to go.