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Dustin Poirier recently hit out at Benoît Saint Denis' take on their UFC 299 fight, which saw 'The Diamond' emerge victorious with a crushing knockout after a thrilling back-and-forth affair. In an interview with MMA Junkie, Poirier took issue with Saint Denis blaming his staph infection for his loss.
Given that most, if not all, fighters step into the octagon with some sort of ailment, whether an outright illness or injury, Poirier felt that it was unfair of his past foe to discredit his win by attributing his performance to the effects of a staph infection.
"I think all that's just talk. If anything I've learned in this sport, fighting for as long as I have, is people are gonna chirp. It's all noise. It's all noise. He shouldn't even... You say those type of things, like, 'I had an infection, I was battling something,' you say that when you win. You don't say that when you lose."
To add to his point, Poirier disclosed that he has fought numerous times with various ailments but never used them to undercut his own losses.
"I've gone into so many fights with staph infections, with fractured foot, with lacerated bicep, with staph infection in my ear, all kinds of stuff. That's fighting. We're on the mats every day. Everybody has something going on going into fights, but you can't say that when you lose. You gotta hush it up."
Check out Dustin Poirier criticize Benoît Saint Denis' statements (2:25):
Unfortunately, it isn't the first time that Poirier has had to deal with a fighter taking away from his performance. After beating Conor McGregor at UFC 257, the Irishman blamed his losses on his plan to box Manny Pacquiao after their bout, implying that had he focused on MMA, things would have been different.
Dustin Poirier is now in a position to compete for the UFC lightweight title
Following his win over Benoît Saint Denis, Dustin Poirier was singled out by reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Due to the current landscape of the division, with most top contenders booked in fights, Makhachev selected Poirier as his next opponent, as he's the only one available.
While the UFC has not yet made an official announcement regarding the Dagestani phenom's next title defense, it wouldn't be the most shocking booking decision the promotion has made. After all, Alexandre Pantoja is set to defend his flyweight title against the No.10-ranked Steve Erceg at UFC 301.
