With all the justifiable focus on the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman at UFC 168 this Saturday night and with such a stacked card soaking up the rest of media attention, one fight falling through the cracks a little is a potential featherweight war between Dustin Poirier (14-3) vs Deigo Brandao (18-8)!
Both are exciting fighters with excellent fight records and also finishing stats: Porier with 11 finishes (6 via TKO and 5 via sub) and Brandao with 14 finishes (9 via TKO and 5 via sub). This fight has the potential to land any one of the three ‘Of The Night’ bonuses’, infact both men are previous ‘Sub & Fight OTN’ winners.
We recently spoke to Dustin Poirier about the task at hand in facing a fighter like Brandao, “you know of course everybody is a challenge, everybody brings something different to the table. But I’m an experienced fighter, this is gonna be my ninth fight in the UFC, I also fought in the WEC, so I feel comfortable,” he said. “I am getting better everyday and I feel like I belong in there with the best guys. Diego Brandao is on a three-fight-win-streak, he won TUF, he’s got a lot of momentum behind him and he’s a dangerous guy. He’s got great jiu-jitsu, he might be a brawler on the feet but if one those punches land…he’s got heavy hands!”
Poirier also spoke about how we expects the fight to play out, “He presses forward hard, gives guys a very tough first round. So I am expecting him to bring the fight and I am not going to take any steps back. It’s gonna be a good fight and the fans a gonna love it! And I am gonna come out on-top for sure!”
Both fighters are on good runs in the UFC with Poirier being 6-2 and Brandao being 4-1 inside the Octagon. Which one will end the year with a bang and start-off 2014 one step closer to a title shot? This fight kicks-off the main card of UFC 168 this Saturday night.