UFC 299: Dustin Poirier Recalls When Benoit Saint-Denis Knocked Out His Teammate – “I Was Like…”

Published 02/06/2024, 1:24 PM EST

Dustin Poirier didn’t know much about his next opponent until he was hit with a harsh reality check. Benoit Saint-Denis has made himself known after a series of brilliant knockouts and submission wins. And one of those knockouts was against a teammate of ‘The Diamond’.

That’s right, Poirier watched his teammate get taken down, and then, when Saint-Denis fought next, he watched him do the same to yet another brilliant fighter in the UFC. So, does that instill fear in Poirier’s mind? Or does it excite him for the fight even more? Here’s what he said in a recent interview.

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Is Dustin Poirier familiar with Saint-Denis’ game?

At UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Spivac, Benoit Saint-Denis went up against Thiago Moises who just happens to be a teammate of Dustin Poirier’s at American Top Team. The knockout secured via a flurry of punches earned Saint-Denis a rightful place at UFC 295, where he faced off against Matt Frevola.

Frevola himself has had a rough time as he was coming off a fresh loss against Drew Dober. He tried to bring his A-game against ‘God of War’ but it was all in vain. Saint-Denis would go on to secure a brutal knockout win in the very first round of the match. Once the match was done with, Saint-Denis called out Dustin Poirier, who was watching it all unfold from the stands.

“I knew of him because he beat a teammate of mine, Thiago Moises, that’s the first time I saw him fight,” Poirier told Ariel Helwani on ‘The MMA Hour,’ “I didn’t know about him until then and then, obviously I know who Matt Frevola is and I was there at Madison Square Garden watching it live so I was like wow, then he called me out.”

Poirier is now set to fight him after a rather tumultuous turn of events. He told Helwani how he’ll work through the rounds to study the technique and flow of Saint-Denis and his game plan. He’ll give him the big fight that he wants, but did the fight really come through with full understanding of the fighters?

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Dana White and his angry rant against a journalist for UFC 299

Dana White must’ve had to run to do some damage control when Dustin Poirier declared that his UFC 299 bout was off. Within hours of the cancellation announcement, ‘The Diamond’ went online and told his fans that his fight was in fact, still on, and it had all been a massive misunderstanding led by some miscommunication. Meanwhile, on Saint-Denis’ end, a journalist reported that the fighter’s team never knew about the fight.

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White put journalist Guilherme Cruz on blast for reporting that Benoit Saint-Denis only found out about the bout when the UFC announced it. He also shared screenshots of an online conversation between the fighter and seemingly his manager or Dana White himself. The conversation showed how ‘God of War’ was kept up-to-date about the fight and that the reports were a bit off, to say the least. However, fans were quick to allege that White’s narrative looked like it had some holes in it and didn’t show us the whole picture. What do you think really happened behind the scenes of this UFC 299 bout?

Real Reason Behind Dustin Poirier’s U-Turn After Dana White Flames Reporter, Fans Believe This Is Why Benoit Saint-Denis Fight Is Back On at UFC 299

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Written by:

I'm Prit Chauhan, and I'm a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. I've been in the writing business for three years, covering areas like mass media marketing, and even tried my hand at fiction. My experience includes research work at the University of California, Berkeley, which helps me spin fact-based stories about the world of Mixed Martial Arts effortlessly.

Edited by:

Yeswanth Praveen

UFC 299: Dustin Poirier Recalls When Benoit Saint-Denis Knocked Out His Teammate – “I Was Like…”

Is Dustin Poirier familiar with Saint-Denis’ game?

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Dana White and his angry rant against a journalist for UFC 299