Dustin Poirier Talks UFC 143 Victory, Possible Title Shot
Posted by Larry Csonka on 02.06.2012
He doesn’t want to rush it…
- Dustin Poirier (12-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) recently spoke about his UFC 143 victory and a possible tile shot, here are the highlights…
On a Possible Title Shot: "I feel like I'm pretty close, but I just don't want to – I'm not ready to rush it. When I fight for the title, I want to be 100 percent ready, and I feel like I'm maturing every fight. I'm getting better every fight."
On His UFC 143 Victory: "I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew I was ready for anything that was going to happen," Poirier said of the fight. "I really thought it was going to be a back-and-forth standup fight, but I thought it was going to be a lot slower of a pace when we started off. I didn't expect him to come out like that. I thought it was going to be a little bit more methodical – feeling-out – but he had nothing to lose. He came in there and threw a lot of punches and kept the pressure on me, so I had to close the distance and take him down and finish him."
On Training: "I was planning on taking two or three months of just getting back in the gym in a gi and having fun training again," Poirier said. "These last six months I've been training for a fight, and I just want to get better as a complete martial artist. When I train for fights, I kind of get that tunnel vision. I get in kill mode, and it's hard for me to do other things. I want to work on everything."
On Fighting Erik Koch: "That's a fight I definitely still want," Poirier said of potentially rescheduling the Koch fight. "I think I'll improve a lot in that fight. It'll be a tough fight, a battle, and I'll learn a lot about myself in that fight. He's going to push me. He's very well-rounded. I think we'll probably end up fighting one day. I'd like that fight or 'The Korean Zombie.' I'd also like that fight – two guys on good win streaks, so we'll just see what happens."
