Dustin Poirier on fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov: “Your submission attempts need to be perfect.”

Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier faced Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title unification bout at UFC 242 in September of last year.

Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier came up short in his fight against the undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, losing via submission (rear-naked choke) in the 3rd round.

With that being said, “The Diamond” did have a brief moment in the fight, where he could have potentially finished Nurmagomedov. Poirier managed to lock in a tight guillotine choke on the champion in the 3rd round.

Nurmagomedov survived the submission attempt and came back to win the win the fight with submission of his own.

Dustin Poirier recently talked about the moment he thought victory was soon to follow on an episode of UFC Unfiltered:

“It was close,” Poirier said. “It was as close as it can get. I would have finished a lot of guys in the UFC with that choke — a lot of guys. And I finish a lot of guys in the gym, all the time.

“Doing jiu jitsu as long as you have, and just having a feel, if there’s a centimetre of space where [Nurmagomedov] can roll his hips to the mat and just create a little bit of space and a little bit of breathing space… I should have went full guard,” Poirier continued.

“I should have controlled his whole body and his hips. I could have really folded him over there if I had really went full guard. Simple things like that which would have finished 90 percent of the guys — that ten percent or five percent that Khabib is in, you just don’t finish guys with that.

“It has to be perfect, and it’s my fault. It’s a lag and a mistake in technique and it’s all on me.” Poirier concluded.

Dustin Poirier has not competed inside the Octagon since his last loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in September of 2019.

Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov has another title defence booked against the former interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. The fight is expected to take place at UFC 249 in April 18, 2020.

Recent events surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus have left UFC 249 in jeopardy. However, UFC president Dana White has assured the fans that the fight will go ahead on that date as planned.

This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 28th March, 2020.