What is the weakness of Poirier?

Well he doesn't have a lot, he's #1 contender for a reason. Sometimes the rankings are spot on, and I think they are mostly for the LW division. I think Khabib, while one of the best fighters ever, severely overestimates his student Makhachev. Incidentally I think that should be Conor's next fight.

But Poirier is #1. And he should be. And he should fight for the belt. He doesn't have a whole lot of weaknesses. However I don't think that Conor is really the best litmus test; Conor has not been serious about MMA since 2016. He hasn't been a threat to anyone in the upper tier since 2016. Conor did for Dustin what Donald did for Conor; made him look invincible.

No slight against Dustin or Conor, or Cowboy for that matter. They're all spectacular fighters. Donald in his prime was a Dragonball Z character.
 
fortheo said:
He's not the best from kicking range. The guy just doesn't have the hip mobility to throw many kicks other than low kicks, and even those (despite his success with them against Conor) are not a big part of his game. He largely prefers to be in the pocket.

His takedown defense is average, but he's a good grappler on the mat so he can get away with it against most guys, but that average TDD is a liability against the top level grapplers who will be able to hold Dustin down after exploiting the average TDD.
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I wouldn't be surprised if Oliveira takes him down and taps him. I hope it doesn't happen but I wouldn't be surprised.

I don't know what to make of Dustin's last three fights honestly. He's better than Conor. Clearly..I felt he fought down to the level of hooker and that he underestimated hooker and won it.

But what if that is his level. Among elite lightweights, what if it looks like the hooker fight since that was the last current LW ranked he faced?


If he does look like the hooker vs Dustin version. I think Oliveira beats him.
 
DP is "good" everywhere, but not "great" anywhere.
 
H
TheWave111 said:
Poirier is a great fighter. What is his weakness?
Is it his lack of flexibility?
He has good footwork but is slow on the feet.
If he chases his opponent it looks like he is bowing down when he is 'running'. It doesn't look athletic. something is missing there but I don't know what it is.

From a technical standpoint he made a wrong decision by chasing Conrat when Conrat was running backwards. He got away with it because Conrat is washed up and has no timing anymore.
Even Khabib clipped Poirier when he was chasing Khabib.
I think this is a weakness of Poirier. The fight needs to be stationary for him for his skills.
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He’s decent at everything and not great at any one thing. That can be a strength against most fighters but a weakness against specialist.
 
early on I would say he can get sloppy, especially if he gets under pressure he can get caught and he was one of those guys that seem to easily get tricked into brawling. Nowadays he is much more patient but I still think a guy who can throw some bombs and really pressure with wrestling could present some problems. I am still undecided on the Olivera matchup, but besides him I think the two guys that can present some challenge are chandler and gaethje.
 
DebtCollectorMMA said:
Behind the ear.

AW2M.gif
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Yeah, weakness to getting clunked on the back of the head lol.

Anyway, Poirier is above average everywhere. I bet he can hang with just about anyone 155 - 170. Only real weaknesses he has shown is that he can be shut off with a really powerful strike and can be controlled if you're a Khabib-level grappler.
 
He can still get caught in the exchanges because he likes to mix it up and he isn't the fastest. Hooker was tagging him a lot. He just outlasted him. His tdd isn't great but he's active on the ground and he can get back up. I just trust Dustin in a dog fight over anyone including Do Bronx, who may be more fluid and technical, but will not be able to last in the trenches.
 
His weakness is that he has no major strengths. A jack of all trades but master of none. A bit basic but does the basics very well. He used to be a bit chinny but he seems to have improved that in recent years.
 
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Kicks for one. He doesn’t throw very many and is also susceptible to them, especially low kicks.

He also has been in some wars over the years. He’s durable but his chin can be cracked.

Otherwise, the main weakness I see in Dustin is that he’s not elite at anything. Most of the dominant UFC champions in recent times are high level at something and then build the rest of their game around it (e.g., Khabib, Usman, Cejudo, Izzy, etc).

There aren’t not too many guys like Dustin that are jack of all trades, master of none. Dustin to me is like a more skilled Marvin Vettori. He can strike, wrestle, and grapple well enough but isn’t a specialist and will struggle against the elite guys.
 
Takedowns and being stuck on his back

Olivereia has a path to victory for sure

His shoulder roll really fixed his defense issues on the feet from when he used to just high guard
 
TheWave111 said:
Poirier is a great fighter. What is his weakness?
Is it his lack of flexibility?
He has good footwork but is slow on the feet.
If he chases his opponent it looks like he is bowing down when he is 'running'. It doesn't look athletic. something is missing there but I don't know what it is.

From a technical standpoint he made a wrong decision by chasing Conrat when Conrat was running backwards. He got away with it because Conrat is washed up and has no timing anymore.
Even Khabib clipped Poirier when he was chasing Khabib.
I think this is a weakness of Poirier. The fight needs to be stationary for him for his skills.
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He's very hittable. He has worked hard to be great in spite of that, but it's still there.

Shit, Hooker wasn't that far away from taking the first 3 rounds off him.
 
Peli said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Oliveira takes him down and taps him. I hope it doesn't happen but I wouldn't be surprised.

I don't know what to make of Dustin's last three fights honestly. He's better than Conor. Clearly..I felt he fought down to the level of hooker and that he underestimated hooker and won it.

But what if that is his level. Among elite lightweights, what if it looks like the hooker fight since that was the last current LW ranked he faced?


If he does look like the hooker vs Dustin version. I think Oliveira beats him.
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I'm rooting for Oliveira, but I like both guys and I'm happy that both of them are in the position to be fighting for the belt. I can't think of two more deserving guys in the sport right now.
 
He is willing to get into wars, which means he gets hit more than he needs to, and if you do that, you can get cracked and stunned or KOd. Anyone who gets hit in the right spot will fold. The myth of the invincible chin is just that. Not a huge weakness, but he's human, like everyone else.
 
I could see a good wrestler with top control being bad match up for Dustin. He doesn't seem very powerful in the wrestling department.
 
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