Poirier: Wouldn’t want to, but I’ll die out there

Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje fight in the main event of UFC on FOX 29 on Saturday. You never know what’s going to happen in mixed martial arts, except we do – this is going to be an awesome fight. Gaethje brings the violence, with high-level wrestling. Poirier offers a more refined approach, and vows to break Gaethje physically, because that’s the only way to stop him.

Justin is a fighter’s fighter. People like to watch him fight. He’s a little bit of a brute. He out-toughs guys and you know that he’s a guy who doesn’t break mentally,” conceded Poirier to Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “You have to break his body. You have to short-circuit him. You have to make his body stop working. He has a never-die attitude and I respect that about him. … I know how dangerous he is, the power he brings and the grit he brings to the fight.

I’m not looking to go out there and get damaged and have a bloodbath, but I’m a fighter deep down inside. So no matter how much I try to tame that beast, when the going gets tough, it comes out. I’m glad I have that because it’s gotten me far.

But this is going to be the bull versus the matador and I’m going to finesse him out there. I’m going to show my full skill set, my speed, my accuracy, everything I’ve been working on for 11 years. I’m going to show, once again, that I’m going to be the best in the world.

Poirier was asked if Gaethje’s style is sustainable.

It’s not,” replied ‘The Diamond’ bluntly. “This guy is going to have to switch his fighting style or he’s going to have a short career. He’s going to have a bunch of fun paydays and a bunch of memorable fights, but it’s not going to last. Once it starts going downhill, it’s going to go down fast for him, fighting like that. Of course, he’s going to catch guys here and there, win some bonuses, and like I said, have some great fights that people are going to remember. And it seems like that’s what he’s fighting for. He loves that, and that’s awesome.

But I want to be a world champion, man. And I want that to be a byproduct of me fighting at my best. I’m not going out there looking to see who’s willing to lose more blood, because I’ll die out there. I know I would, but I don’t want that. I want to go in there and have smooth fight and show my skill.