You’d be hard-pressed to find an example of a fight during Dustin Poirier’s UFC career that was lacklustre or outright boring.

Poirier is regarded as one of the most fan-friendly fighters of his era, always facing the toughest possible competition and always willing to go out on his shield, and at UFC 299 “The Diamond” added to his prestige with a memorable knockout win over Benoit Saint Denis.

“This is the (expletive) that makes you a (expletive) legend,” UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference when asked about Poirier’s latest Fight of the Night-winning performance. “These are legendary fights. When you go in and face a guy who is a savage and looks like you can’t win this fight, or people think you can’t win this fight, and then you go in and do it in spectacular fashion the way he did tonight, a lot of these fighters get (insecure about the organization playing favourites) but we don’t determine whether you lose or whether you win. You do. What we try to do is put on the best matchmaked (sic) fights that we can possibly do. That’s why big stars are built in the UFC and legendary fights happen every weekend.”

Poirier was an underdog heading into the co-main event bout and had lost the opening round on all three judges’ scorecards after absorbing 50 significant strikes, getting taken down twice and controlled for more than three minutes by his younger opponent as Poirier attempted three separate guillotine chokes.

Saint Denis slowed down in the second round and Poirier began landing impactful counterpunches (after attempting a fourth guillotine choke, mind you). A right hook from Poirier sent Saint Denis crashing to the canvas and one follow-up punch put him to sleep.

It’s unclear exactly what might be next for the 35-year-old one-time interim lightweight champion. Poirier posted on social media Sunday calling for a title fight with Islam Makhachev in June in response to Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who tweeted this after the event:

The reigning lightweight champion does not have his next opponent lined up yet. His two title defences in 2023 were against former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski who was competing up a weight class and took one of those bouts on short notice.

White wouldn’t comment Sunday on whether Poirier is close to another title shot at 155 pounds – Poirier was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira in his two previous fights with an undisputed title on the line – but the UFC boss did say regarding the Louisiana fighter’s star power: “His stock goes through the roof. … Poirier went to a whole ‘nother level tonight with this fight.”

Poirier was coming off a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje last July and ran the risk of losing consecutive fights for the first time in his career.

“It feels good to right the ship, take a chance and fight a guy outside of the top 10,” Poirier said. “I don’t even know how many, but my last opponents have all been former world champions, huge main events, huge fights, and now I got this young guy in his twenties who finished his last opponents, got a lot of momentum behind him, a country behind him. I’m like, ‘You know what, let’s see if I still got it to fight these young guys,’ and it feels good.”

The frantic scrap was awarded the event’s Fight of the Night bonus. It is the ninth time Poirier has earned that distinction, tying Edson Barboza for the UFC record.

It was another performance that symbolized what Poirier is all about in the cage and a prime example of why he is so revered by combat sports enthusiasts. Poirier's star-studded UFC résumé is unassailable with multiple wins over Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, additional victories over fellow UFC champions Anthony Pettis and Eddie Alvarez, plus notable stoppages of Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler among his many accomplishments.

“I honour what I do,” Poirier added. “Eddie Alvarez gave me a shot when he was a former champion and I was an up-and-comer and you have to do it. That’s the nature of what we do.”

Dustin Poirier's UFC 299 comeback KO adds to legacy: 'These are legendary fights'

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