Rate a fighter: Dustin Poirier

[Ace70 V2]

I give him a career rating of 7.1.

10 being Fedor, 1 being Sean Salmon.

Can 1 be CM Punk? Salmon should at least be 1.75

 

[StonedLemur]

Rank him?

I will go 8.5/10.

This somewhat hot-take will also russtle some jimmies, but I think he is a better all time Lightweight than BJ Penn and has better wins at Lightweight.

Yeah, you're gonna be assaulted here sir lmao

 

[EricSpider]

One of the best to never win a title.

 

[NoSmilez]

He is good. He can dig deep and win fights.

 

[Local Plata]

He's OK. He's elite for the division he's fighting in now, but that isn't saying much when you have straight up clowns like Gaethje fighting for a title. LW is washed, Khabib leaving left the division pretty bare with some guys that were elite at one point but are aging poorly now.

 

[phillystyleswag]

8.75/10

Great fighter. His grappling is the big knock imo. Just not quite good enough when fighting the elite, elite grappler types.

 

[LeBron]

Fraud. Best wins at 155 were against Gaethje before he actually learned how to fight properly, journeyman who hasn’t won a significant fight in years (Conor), and much smaller Max. He would have lost against Max if they were the same size. Literally every time Dustin connected, Max was rocked.

 

[legedema]

Dustin is the fighter who beat the shit out of Conor 2 times

 

[ILIKEROCKHOLD]

His resume speaks for itself. Gaetjche, Conor twice, Holloway twice, Alvarez, Pettis. I’ll give him an 8.5.

 

[jk7707]

• Great all around skills
• Won some wars
• entertaining fighter
• Good in-fight adjustments
• Better than most LW's that have fought in the UFC

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that will say he sucks because he couldn't be Nurmagomedov and Oliveira. They are wrong.

This. No one destroys Poirier. He had moments vs Khabib, and was a few punches away vs Charles. He's still a threat to take the LW title.

 

[Fight Professor]

7.5
8.5 as a fighter

 

[basedgodfedor]

S
A porier a tier
B
C
D
E

 

[cheesus]

Probably an 8, 10 would be GOAT contender 9 would be a dominant champion and 8 would be someone who won a belt or beat a bunch of other elite contenders / former champions. If he doesn't win the belt, he'll go down as one of the greatest fighters to never win the undisputed title. He has all the tools to beat all the guys in the division

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

It’s not only his wrestling, but Jiu Jitsu defense that costs him fights on the big stage. That, and pulling guard on Khabib so fight IQ could be a bit better.

All true as well. I used to think he had good BJJ (because he had some nice sub wins and ground game), but that was really just because he had good offensive subs against . . . meh BJJ guys. Once he climbed the ladder a bit, his striking and striking defense improved quite a bit, but I agree, his BJJ defense has never looked high level.
Kind of like Condit in a way.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

8.5ish.

 

[GOATtalks]

If Dustin isn’t great, what’s Justin then?

The same as Dustin. Justin is very good, but not exceptional

 

[GOATtalks]

lol Dustin is "not great", yet he put on exciting fights and beat up Hooker, Colon, Justin, Alvarez and Max?

Who is "great" then, in this context? Only Khabib?

He didn’t dominate any of the guys you mentioned and could’ve easily lost to all of them.

Yes, Khabib is great. Great is something reserved for best of the best. Like right now:

Ngannou
Gane
Izzy
Whittaker
Usman
Colby
Volkanovski
Max
Yan
Figgy
Moreno

I would Khamzat to that list as well, but generally it’s to early to be sure

 

[Arnold Schwarzenword]

All true as well. I used to think he had good BJJ (because he had some nice sub wins and ground game), but that was really just because he had good offensive subs against . . . meh BJJ guys. Once he climbed the ladder a bit, his striking and striking defense improved quite a bit, but I agree, his BJJ defense has never looked high level.
Kind of like Condit in a way.

Thats a damn good comparison regarding Submission defense. Although from memory, Condit had even worse defensive wrestling but a better guard game than Dustin.

 

[Shaddows]

I feel like Dustin has been a bit overrated these last few years. In my opinion he’s a really good fighter, but definitely not great or exceptional.

He’s a big, not huge LW, with good power and good cardio. Good striking and decent BJJ, but with very average wrestling.

Most of his best wins have been wars and a majority of them could’ve went either way. He’s never been dominant or on a impressive win streak. He has a lot of loses and some aren’t even to the best fighters in the division.

TBH I wouldn’t bet on him to beat guys like Islam, Tsarukyan, Gamrot or Guram.

What are your thoughts on Dustin?

I don't disagree with you.
he is very good, but nothing special.

But you can't deny he has been at the top 5 for a very long time, beating other top candidates.

And I can't think that you are definitely jumping the gun on unproven guys like Islam, Tsarukyan, Gamrot or Guram.
Dustin is solid.
These guys are untested.

 

[mirko>anyone]

I don't disagree with you.
he is very good, but nothing special.

But you can't deny he has been at the top 5 for a very long time, beating other top candidates.

And I can't think that you are definitely jumping the gun on unproven guys like Islam, Tsarukyan, Gamrot or Guram.
Dustin is solid.
These guys are untested.

Dustin would more than hold his own with those prospects, but I'd favor Islam at this point.

Unfortunately, our ranking system doesn't really allow exploration of this sort anyway. Could Gamrot win? Sure, but fat chance he ever gets the opportunity with how apprehensive ranked fighters often are about accepting challenges. With how infrequent most fight, the nature of our sport doesn't always allow us to keep up to date either. I feel like the rankings often reflect the past couple years more so than they do the current landscape, but I guess that's a different topic altogether.