Tomorrow night in the co-main event of UFC 299, we are going to see a five-round war in the lightweight division. Former interim champion and promotional star Dustin Poirier (29-8) returns to action as he takes on rising contender Benoit Saint-Denis (13-1).
Starting with Saint-Denis, this is a massive moment and fight for him. He comes into tomorrow night riding a five-fight winning streak and he’s finished all five opponents. Most recently, he knocked out Matt Frevola in the first round of their fight back in November. If he’s able to defeat Dustin Poirier, he’ll immediately be in the title picture at 155.
Dustin Poirier last fought in July against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title. It was a very competitive fight much like their first one but out of no where, Gaethje knocked out Poirier with a vicious head kick. The Diamond will look to get back on the winning path tomorrow night. Since 2017, Poirier is 8-3 and has only lost to Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, and the great Khabib Nurmagomedov.
UFC 299 Prediction
This is my pick for fight of the night and I don’t think there’s a close second. That’s saying something considering how ridiculously stacked this card in Miami is. However, both of these guys are absolute dogs and I think you’re going to see both of them bloodied and bruised before this one is over.
I really like Saint-Denis’ ability to fight with a lot of forward pressure. That’s going to help him in this matchup. With Poirier, we know how good he is, but The Diamond does his best work when he’s moving forward. We’ve seen him struggle when he’s fighting off the back foot.
Saint-Denis is going to need to keep the pressure on at UFC 299. However, I really like the crisp boxing of Dustin Poirier. Poirier has some of the cleanest boxing in the division and he has something that Saint-Denis doesn’t have in this matchup and that’s championship experience.
These two are going to hurt each other bad in this one, but I think in the fourth round, Poirier gets the job done. I think the experience is really going to play in this one and at the end of the day, The Diamond gets his hand raised.
Prediction: Dustin Poirier by TKO – Round 4