Fan favorite UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier is expected to face an uphill task in his upcoming UFC 299 co-main event bout against the up-and-coming dangerous UFC prospect Benoit Saint-Denis. With most advantages, including age, size, reach, and recent form on the Frenchman’s side, Poirier is going into the fight the betting underdog.

This is despite ‘The Diamond’ being ranked #3 in the lightweight division, much higher than ‘BSD’s #12, and having twenty-nine UFC appearances under his belt. In addition, while Poirier may have lost the last two of his three fights, he has been fighting only top-five opponents since winning the interim lightweight title in 2019.

‘BSD’ coach thinks even Jon Jones couldn’t help Poirier

The Frenchman and his camp, though respectful of the veteran former interim champion, are also confident of victory. Saint-Denis’ coach, when asked about what he made of Poirier’s training partners, was not bothered and said that the Louisiana native could bring in Jon Jones, considered by many the greatest of all time, as training partner, but that won’t change the outcome of the fight.

“[Dustin] can bring back whoever he wants, we don’t actually care. He can even bring Jon Jones back if it makes him happy, but it won’t change anything,” Daniel Woirin said. And while this confidence may be well-deserved given that the Frenchman seems to have every advantage at least on paper, Saint-Denis has yet to fight anyone of the level of Poirier.

‘Diamond’ has been fighting top opponents in the stacked lightweight division for over ten years and has all the intangibles and experience to surprise ‘BDS’ at their UFC 299 clash on Saturday. Either way, the bout will be a consequential one for the Louisianan in deciding the future course of his career.

Saint-Denis fight a crossroads for Dustin Poirier’s career

Dustin Poirier, whose devastating head-kick knockout UFC 291 loss to Justin Gaethje last year had put him in no-man’s land, can resurrect his career and is likely to even out him back in title contention, if he comes out on top against Benoit Saint-Denis.

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A loss, on the other hand, will most likely see him crash out of the top five and may close the door, for good, on any future title shots. Retirement, too, is not off the table for Poirier, who has spoken about not having any grand plans at taking his career one fight at a time at the moment and has admitted that “any fight could be it.” What are your predictions for UFC 299?

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