Ahead of his UFC lightweight title challenge this weekend at UFC 269 against reigning division kingpin, Charles Oliveira, former interim gold holder, Dustin Poirier had mapped out some routes to victory against the Brazilian – including various scenarios where he could finish the champion via strikes.
Making his third Octagon walk of this year, Poirier attempts to clinch the undisputed lightweight crown at the second time of trying, and enters off the back of a three-fight winning run following his first unsuccessful tilt.
The Lafayette native most recently headlined UFC 264 back in July – earring his second career win over former two-weight titleholder, Conor McGregor to round out the pair’s intense trilogy.
Retaining the #1 rank in the official lightweight pile off the back of his second career win over the Dubliner, Poirier attempts to snap the stunning nine-fight rise of Oliveira, who scooped the vacant lightweight crown back at UFC 262 in May via an early second round knockout win over Michael Chandler.
Ahead of the championship clash, Poirier has claimed that his best route to success against the Sao Paulo submission ace comes in his ability to capitalize on mistakes made by Oliveira.
“I take advantage of mistakes that this guy (Charles Oliveira) makes, you know,” Poirier told Michael Bisping on BT Sport. “Overreaching on shots, throwing too much power, you know – just being in the moment and fighting to my abilities I beat this guy.”
“Yeah, I see him (Charles Oliveira) being over-confident sometimes, or lack of – the alarms not going off when he’s standing in front of guys, his head’s up. He’s trying to put them away but he’s not worried about his defense. And if he does that in front of me, I’ll knock him out.”
Given the grappling prowess possessed by Oliveira – who holds the most submission victories in UFC history with 14 separate stoppages, Poirier explained how a lot of his focus for his UFC 269 camp came in potentially dangerous grappling scenarios.
“This whole training camp was starting off in bad positions with good guys (good grapplers) on my back, on my neck,” Poirier said. “(I) did as much as I can to sharpen up my defense and my get-ups, you know how it is – everything. (I) did everything I could. It’s a grind, man. It’s a grind.”
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