UFC 208 Results: Poirier Earns the Decision Victory in a Barnburner
An old school brawl from two veterans of the sport sees Poirier winning the decision on one leg
Always an exciting fighter to watch Dustin Poirer has gone to the judges just 5 times in his 16 UFC bouts and won two Fight of the Night bonuses. He was shooting up the Lightweight rankings looking like he was on the short path towards a title shot.
Then he ran into Michael Johnson who shockingly KO’d him just 95 seconds into their fight while displaying his complete lack of class. “Diamond” took it in stride though and made some changes to his training camp for this matchup. Emphasising defence and fighting smarter he also toned down on the sparring.
Around this time last year, Jim Miller looked like he was headed on his way out of the UFC. He had just lost for the fourth time in his last five fights and was suffering from Lyme disease. Fast forward to today and he’s on a three-fight winning streak headed into this bout with a big TKO win over Takonori Gomi, a Fight of the Night rematch against Joe Lauzon, and an upset against Thiago Alves. He has stayed extremely active recently this being his fifth fight in 11 months.
A submission specialist like his brother Dan Miller he came into this fight the significant underdog.
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Both fighters looked to establish the leg kick early in round one. The first minute was a feeling out process. Miller landed a couple crisp combos and then shot for a takedown but it beautifully stuffed by Poirier. He capitalised on that by trapping Miller against the fence in the clinch and landing heavy shots off the break from the clinch. Miller had the right hook left to the body combo timed down perfectly.
Poirer landed a nice overhand right and then caught Millers leg kick subsequently taking him down. He was quickly reversed by Miller who got a hold of his back, somewhere no one wants to be. Miller was looking for the rear-naked choke but Poirier got out and landed up on top. Both got to their feet and ended the round exchanging wild flurries of punches.
Miller landed a hard uppercut followed by a leg kick that hurt Poirier to open the second round. Poirier started to bring pressure hard though and Miller unsuccessfully shot for a single leg out of desperation. He trapped Miller against the fence punch after punch landing. Miller’s face was wearing the damage. As soon as Miller started giving it back Poirer countered with harder shots.
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Miller went for another desperate single leg takedown attempt after getting wobbled. That was stuffed by Poirier. He landed some elbows to the side of Miller’s head which allowed him to reverse position and secure his own takedown from the clinch.
Miller looked gassed at this point of the fight. Poirer elected to let him stand up instead of working on the ground as the round comes to end. It was a decisive round for Poirier. Both men acknowledged each other as the crowd went crazy.
Jim seemed to have gotten a second win to start the third round. Countering Poirier’s left and landing a couple heavy leg kicks. One dropped him to the ground. Noticeably limping he was forced to switch stances. This forced him to become much less aggressive after possibly breaking his leg. Poirier managed to sweep Miller’s leg and get into his guard. From here Miller attempted several submissions first looking for the neck then the arm.
Poirer went for his own choke but got pulled back into Miller’s guard where Miller attempted a Kimura. Poirier slipped out and the round ended with him dishing out some ground and pound. The first two rounds should have given Poirier the decision victory.
One judge scored it a draw but the other two have it for Poirier who earns the majority decision victory. Poirier can’t even stand on his right leg after the fight. He told his coach he’s taking some time off. Poirier in the post fight interview says he got in there and just wanted to brawl.
