MIAMI -- The end is near for Dustin Poirier, and he knows it. Poirier, 35, fought for nearly half of his life professionally, and MMA has been more than half his life if you count his amateur bouts.
He's a no-doubt Hall of Famer when his career is over, and there was a lot of talk during the build-up to UFC 299 on Saturday at The Kaseya Center just how much time Poirier had left. His match with Benoit Saint Denis in the co-main event of the show seemed like the. proverbial stepping stone fight. Saint Denis entered the fight having won five in a row, all by finish, and though he was ranked 12th, he was the subject of much hype.
And so the big, strong, young and hungry lion was matched with Poirier, the veteran who has been there, done that. But some were thinking Poirier's time had come, and that he no longer was the guy who has been a perennial Top 3 fixture at lightweight the last seven or eight years.
Poirier emphatically put to rest any questions about his ability to still fight at the highest level on Saturday. He violently knocked out Saint Denis with a powerful right hand and put to the rest, for a moment anyway, the hype train that followed the powerful Frenchman.
The knockout also put an exclamation on the reminder that KO sent that, yes, Dustin Poirier is still a legitimate championship contender.
Shout it from the mountaintops:
DUSTIN POIRIER IS STILL A LEGITIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER.
The knockout was Poirier ninth at lightweight, tying him with Drew Dober for the divisional record. And while there is no obvious path to the title, win a fight like that, and do it the way he did it, and you'll end up in a big fight shortly.
"When talk first started about this fight, everybody was saying, 'Oooh, this is a bad fight for Poirier,' " UFC CEO Dana White said. " ... Well, this is the kind of shit that makes you a f*cking legend. You become a f*cking legendary. This was one of those legendary fights. When you go out and you're fighting a guy who is a savage and it looks like you can't win this fight, or people think you can't win the fight, and then you go out and win it in spectacular fashion, the way he did it tonight,
"We've heard from fighters many time in the past, 'Oh, they want me to lose.' I heard some nutty shit the other day from somebody I don't even want to mention. We don't determine whether you lose. You do. What we do is we try to put on the best matched fights we can possibly do. That's why big stars are built in the UFC and legendary fights happen every weekend."
And there is no doubt that Poirier is a legend, as well as an A+ human being. He represents himself, his family and his sport spectacularly well, always thoughtful, always well-spoken and always looking to lend a hand.
He's as competitive as they come, and as eager to fight the elite as anyone. And so when he was the veteran and was presented with a tough, hungry and young opponent, he remembered veterans like Eddie Alvarez who gave him a chance.
"The only reason I'm still fighting, the reason I started fighting, is to be world champion and be best in the world, undisputed," Poirier said.
He's still got a chance to do that. He will undoubtedly make the UFC Hall of Fame. And he's going to provide plenty more thrils in whatever time he has left to commit to this sport.
It takes a toll on the body and Poirier has been through a lot. Every morning he awakens, he feels the aches and pains that his chosen profession has provided him.
But he's continued to put on entertaining bout after entertaining bout, and he's won far more than he's lost.
He's always carried himself with dignity and class and shown respect to all involved, When it's time for him to walk away -- and that time is not all that far away -- it's going to be a sad moment for all who love this crazy sport.
Poirier reminded a sell-out crowd and a pay-per-view audience on Saturday in the most emphatic way possible that the time to say goodbye is not quite here just yet.