Dustin Poirier 10 Best UFC Wins Ranked

Former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has been fighting the best of the best for over a decade. The Louisiana native proved that his time as an elite level mixed martial artist is not over with his recent knockout victory at UFC 299. Though he has faced many trials and tribulations throughout his career, his consistency of amazing performances has made him a fan-favorite prizefighter.

Although he is yet to win an undisputed UFC strap, Poirier has been a part of many memorable fights in the Octagon. From putting the mitts on former champions to astonishing comeback victories, Poirier has been a part of many entertaining scraps. Ahead of his big UFC lightweight championship shot against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, we look back on the 10 best victories of Poirier’s UFC career.

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10 Max Holloway 1

Date: May 12, 2012, Event: UFC 143, Result: Armbar

The first time Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway met, the two young featherweights were still finding their footing in the world’s largest MMA organization. Talented, but largely unproven prospects, the meeting between Poirier and Holloway was a foreshadowing of two great careers to come. Poirier did not have the most successful run in the UFC 145-pound division, but he was still able to garner a few wins that stood out, including a submission victory over future featherweight all-time great, Max “Blessed” Holloway.

Usually, whenever we’re talking about a successful night at the office for Mr. Poirier, it centers around a knockout victory with his elite boxing skills. But on this night in 2012, Poirier pulled off an incredibly mounted armbar. It was a beautiful technique for the Louisiana native, who now is a black belt in jujitsu, who normally uses his grappling skills to escape poor positions in hopes of getting the fight back to boxing range. Impressively, “The Diamond” used his jiu-jitsu skills to outclass a young Holloway on this occasion.

9 Jim Miller

Date: Feb 11, 2017, Event: UFC 208, Result: Majority-Decision

The fight against Jim Miller was nothing spectacular in terms of knockdowns or some sort of crazy comeback, but, what was so important for Dustin Poirier in this fight was getting back on the winning track after suffering a devastating knockout loss at the hands of Michael Johnson just a few months prior. On his best days, Dustin Poirier should put the mitts on a fighter of Miller’s caliber, but at this point in his career, Poirier needed a huge confidence-building victory. He was able to get that at UFC 208 against Miller, and this was the first fight of Poirier’s 5-0-1 run to his first undisputed title shot.

Looking at the fight stylistically, it was a lot of sticking and moving, poking and prodding and feeling out, but Poirier was able to do more work than Miller and get his hand raised. The effort resulted in Fight of The Night honors. Crazy enough, in 19 career lightweight fights, Poirier has only reached the final horn three times, which is a credit to his finishing ability.

8 Dan Hooker

Date: June 27, 2020, Event: UFC Fight Night, Result: Unanimous-Decision

After facing defeat against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Poirier took a fight against a fighter that was behind him in the rankings in Dan Hooker, who was a much tougher opponent than most would have expected him to be. Hooker, a teammate of Israel Adesanya, came out of the gate on fire. With beautiful calf kicks and boxing combinations, he looked sharp as a tack in the early rounds. Instantly down by two on the judges’ scorecard, Poirier battled back to win the last three rounds and avoid losing back to back losses which would’ve dropped him in the lightweight pecking order.

Poirier seemed not to be completely present in the fight early on, giving Hooker a huge opportunity to do a lot of damage. But, being the gangster that “The Diamond” is, he dug deep, shifted into gear and put together some beautiful boxing combinations with his signature walk-through stance switching that got his hand raised. This fight generated good numbers on television and brought in more casual fans to the sport because it was aired live and free on ESPN during the height of the 2020 pandemic. With this huge win, Poirier elevated his stock even more.

7 Anthony Pettis

Date: Nov 12, 2017, Event: UFC Fight Night, Result: Body Triangle

Prior to Dustin Poirier’s victory over former UFC champion Anthony Pettis, Poirier failed twice when being booked as a UFC Fight Night headliner. As they say, the third time’s the charm and Poirier was able to live up to that moniker in a big way on that November night of November 2017. Pettis is well-known as a dynamic striker with his Taekwondo kicks and underrated power, as well as his sneaky submission skills, making him a tough opponent for any challenger. For Poirier, this was a big opportunity to showcase to the world that he had entered his prime and wasn’t looking back anytime soon.

Now known for his signature pace, output and unwillingness to quit, Poirier used this fight as an opportunity to display all of his skills and what was to come in the fights following. Pettis was game early on, as he always is, but Poirier was able to get the better of the Milwaukee native and eventually broke him down with his striking, which led to Pettis being forced to tap due to a body triangle. This victory was just another example of a growth in poise and skill set by Poirier.

6 Eddie Alvarez 2

Date: July 28, 2018, Event: UFC Fight Night, Result: RD2 TKO

The rematch against Eddie Alvarez was another great showing for Poirier as he continued where he left off in their first fight about a year earlier, when the fight was called a no contest because of an illegal knee thrown by Poirier. Although the knee was very untimely by Poirier, he is historically known as a clean fighter and put it on Alvarez in the fight, but due to unfortunate circumstances, Poirier had to wait for the rematch in order to clear his record and put on a spectacular performance the next time out there.

Alvarez, once crowned the most violent UFC fighter on the roster, especially following his stoppage victory over Justin Gaethje, boasted Poirier’s victory that much more. Poirier did what he always does when he searches for the kill, which is bait his opponents into a slugfest, but then he suddenly counters them with big hooks to put them on ice skates. Alvarez felt Poirier’s power and looked out of it as the Louisiana native got a huge victory and another step towards stardom.

5 Michael Chandler

Date: Nov 12, 2022, Event: UFC 281, Result: Rear Naked Choke

Dustin Poirier versus Michael Chandler was blood, guts and heart all wrapped into one. In the early stages of the fight, Chandler, a physical specimen, had Poirier hurt because of big punches. But, after coming off a second career title fight loss one year prior, Poirier quickly turned his fate around. Chandler has proven to be one of the most entertaining Fighters on the UFC’s roster with non-stop action in everything he does, and a win over the Tennessee fighter wasn’t going to be easy.

Poirier has dealt with the most dangerous fighters in the world over several eras of the UFC, and used that experience to remain calm under fire against Chandler. Poirier turned the tides – like he always does – and put Chandler on his back foot for what became one of the greatest fights of 2022. After landing stinging crosses and hooks, Poirier snatched up a rear-naked choke submission to put a bow on this spectacle of a fight.

4 Justin Gaethje 1

Date: April 14, 2018, Event: UFC Fight Night, Result: RD4 TKO

One year after establishing that he wasn’t just another one-hit-wonder, Justin Gaethje meant business and was awarded an opportunity against Dustin Poirier. As expected, this fight turned out to be another Poirier bloodbath. Gaethje had this air of danger that very few fighters wanted to test back then. But of course, Poirier is not built like other men and gladly stepped up to the plate against a fighter who was looking to take his spot.

As you can imagine, this fight started out with an intense feeling that we were about to see some violence unfold. Both men reached deep into their bag of weapons, trying to cut down the other before they could be cut down themselves. This old school duel was right in Poirier’s wheelhouse, who used his power as well as his precision, to beat the brakes off Gaethje and get his hand raised for another Fight of The Night honors. This was another victory for Poirier, who was in the midst of the greatest winning period of his career.

3 Benoit Saint-Denis

Date: March 9, 2024, Event: UFC 299, Result: RD2 KO

It is typical in the fighting game to have a recognizable veteran of the sport face a young and hungry lion that is looking to take their spot and build their name off a career-changing victory. The matchmaking of Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint Denis was exactly that for UFC 299’s co-main event. Poirier was coming off his first knockout loss in seven years against the aforementioned threat, Justin Gaethje. Poirier was looking to avoid losing for two straight times for the first time in his career, but a salivating Frenchman was coming for his head and ranking.

Many built up BSD as this invincible opponent with his wild nature and relentlessness, but Poirier was not fearful of the younger threat. Being an underdog in this fight fueled Poirier to train much harder during his camp, and it showed when he achieved his latest Fight of The Night honors. His beautiful boxing has evolved as he did not chase the knockout but was able to find BSD’s chin with stepback counter punching. Poirier sent the French fighter reeling and earned even more respect from the organization and from fight fans across the world for this spectacular performance.

2 Max Holloway 2

Date: April 13, 2019, Event: UFC 236, Result: Unanimous Decision

The rematch against Max Holloway was very exciting for fight fans as it was a chance to learn if Dustin Poirier could once again beat one of the greatest UFC featherweights of all time, but this time, at a higher weight class. For Holloway, it was an opportunity to see how he has improved and if there’s a future at lightweight. It was a sure fire bet that these two warriors would put on an action-packed show for the Atlanta crowd.

The importance of this victory for Poirier cannot be overlooked, as this would be the first time Dustin Poirier will leave an event wearing UFC gold. Yes, he won an interim title because of Nurmagomedov’s absence, but it was a well-earned crowning for Poirier, who has put so much into the sport. Of course, he has much more to prove as he is still chasing that undisputed belt, but this win was a taste of what could be.

1 Conor McGregor 2

Date: Jan 24, 2021, Event: UFC 257, Result: RD2 TKO

Dustin Poirier’s UFC 257 victory over Conor McGregor was a changing of the guard, as Poirier has more than double the fights that McGregor had in his UFC career, with half of the recognition. It was seven years since the young Poirier and McGregor faced off, but the Louisiana native still felt the burn of that huge loss to the Irishman many moons before. Back at UFC 178, McGregor was still ascending and was learning to master his mental warfare. Poirier was caught in the crosshairs of McGregor’s inciting trash talk and lost to the Irishman via first-round knockout.

In the massive rematch, Poirier used the platform that comes with a McGregor fight to show off his new tools as well as his mental maturity. Poirier calmly dealt with McGregor’s rapid-starting style and started to figure out the former two-division champion’s timing towards the end of the first-round. Poirier outboxed one of the best MMA boxers of all time, got his hand raised and became a global superstar off this victory. Time will tell if these gentlemen go at it for a fourth time…