Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Dustin Poirier FULL FIGHT UFC Classics

Dustin, Habib, you know exactly what I expect. I want you to fight hard, I need you to fight clean. When I say stop, you stop. If you want a touch, now is the time. God bless. A lot of mutual respect between these two combatants. The only thing Habib really took issue with was some of the promotion that was champion versus champion. He says, I am the champion, he is the interim champ. And Habib is hoping to keep it that way in this epic main event clash tonight. Here underway, Habib Medov in the black and gold, Dustin Poirier is in the blue with gold. Nurmagomedov's striking has improved tremendously over the last 24 months or so. Had that knockdown against Conor McGregor, but in talking to Javier Mendez, they really feel like he's taking it to the next level. That being said, doesn't figure to lean on it too much tonight. Right now, these guys are just feeling each other out. Nothing too crazy going on, obviously. You should start pressuring soon, and we've seen Dustin just look for that calf kick pretty much so far. Keep his body on the outside, get that lead foot advantage. Back-to-back fights against southpaw strikers for Habib Nurmagomedov. In on the single leg, head on the inside. And this is where he does his best work. Once he gets a hold of that leg, he just moves to the top of your body and just keeps you squished up against the fence. This is where Dustin said he did a lot of work. We'll find out if it pays off. So this is the first time that Poirier is feeling that famed Nurmagomedov pressure. And you see Poirier wide-eyed looking to his chief corner, Mike Brown, for some advice. Early takedown for Habib. And this is where he wants to be. This is where he beats everybody. He gets behind you underneath these arms, and he can just stay here for five minutes. It's hard to get him off you in this position. He'll beat your legs up with the knees, and then just make you carry his weight so you got nothing in you after. Wow. Outstanding control by Nurmagomedov. Now transitions to the back of Dustin Poirier. Couple hooks in. Poirier says, I know I'm going to be taken down. I just have to keep the scramble going. And the scramble is not going right now. It's tough. Looked like Poirier got raked across the eye there a little bit by Nurmagomedov. Now working on a little bit of a neck crank, not under the chin. That hurts, but it doesn't choke. It just makes things miserable. And that's what Habib does so well, is he just makes things miserable for you. Hangs on your hands, beats you up, cranks your neck, keeps the pressure, makes you carry his weight. That's what we're seeing here. Poirier getting advice, and Nurmagomedov just covering the face and looking them all in. Less than two minutes to go in the round. You see Nurmagomedov wisely trying to upset the breathing pattern of Poirier. Poirier, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, trying to turn into the choke here, Dom. Yeah, he can't. It's not a choke. It's just nasty. He makes it real nasty on you, Habib. And that's what's happening right now. And see how he stays in that position, no matter what, underneath both arms. And that's just not a fun position to be in if you're Poirier. Good job switching it around by him. So Dustin back to his feet, lands in need of the body of Nurmagomedov. But no separation for Poirier, which could prove problematic. Well, he keeps getting behind his arms like that, and that's going to be an issue. And you see how he trips him. That's one of Kabu's best weapons, is he trips you while he's taking you down over and over. He's attacking your legs with the foot swings while he's attacking your upper body, and that's a big difference. Right, the simultaneous attacks, the subtleties, the nuances. And notice his head is always higher than his opponent, and that makes you carry his weight as well. There's the trips. The difference is that he trips you while he's clinching you. A lot of guys aren't using that at the same time. Still behind the arms. Khabib three-for-four on his takedown attempts, left fall. Nice switch, but it's not enough because Khabib keeps the hands locked. And, you know, in wrestling, traditional wrestling, it's illegal to keep your hands locked. But in a fight, that's why it's illegal in a wrestling match, because it's hard to get away. Already north of three minutes of control time for Nurmagomedov. Has really been put on the defensive early in this fight. His ground strikes now from the champion. Oh, big elbow from Khabib! Fourier forced to score him out. Nurmagomedov at his mauling best in round one. He loses six significant strike attempts in that opening round. They want more offense here, and they want him fighting on a napkin in the center of the octagon. And that's what he's gotta do. He's gotta get respect with his hands early. Otherwise, Khabib can just keep wrestling him. But more than anything, they're saying, keep going for that switch that you learned. It's working, but you gotta keep the leg when you switch. If you keep the leg, even if Khabib keeps his hands locked, at least it gives you some leverage. He's got Poirier thinking right now, especially after that takedown. Poirier packing up here, early round two. Poirier with a big right hand! Hard to know the extent to which that hurt Nurmagomedov. He's able to avoid it. Poirier gotta throw like this. This is what he's gotta do. He's gotta get the respect. Nice kick to the body by Poirier, and then he slipped. Khabib digs to the body there. Khabib counters to the inside of that lead leg of Poirier. The speed on that double leg is just incredible. And that's a real difference in anything that people feel, is how fast he can shoot. What an atmosphere in this arena, with every strike that's thrown, takedown that's secured. Incredible. No surprise, Poirier said this was one of his harder training camps. Doing this every day for five, ten rounds. And right here, just in this position, you see Khabib just waiting, because he's making Poirier carry all his weight, and it's just so tiring the way he hooks the leg and keeps your head. Takes so much energy to get up from these positions, and that's what Khabib does well. And now he's got his legs hooked, while he's controlling the hands. Poirier scooting to the fence, but yeah, I mean, you see that leg control by Nurmagomedov. And that's what I see the biggest difference with Khabib from most grapplers, is he's using his hands and his legs at the same time. Most wrestlers are just using their upper body and their feet are touching the floor. They're just using their upper body and that's it. But he uses both at the same time, and it gives him... It's his weapons at all times on the mat. And it looks like Poirier has been cut open fairly significantly around that left eye. And a lot of times, you see guys with their head is lower than the man up against the fence, but Khabib's generally higher than the guy on bottom, and that's making him carry the weight, and that's why he always ends up behind the back here. Not sure what cut Poirier, but that is a significant cut, and bothering him under two minutes here to go in round two of a possible five. See how he's hooking the ankles there? It just really offsets the hips, keeps you from being able to be strong up against the fence, and he'll keep going back and forth between hooking the ankles, going to a double leg, hooking the ankles up and down, up and down. As Poirier focuses on the upper body, fighting for an underhook, you get your leg cut out from underneath. And then that gives him the upper body lock after you tripped. No fun. Unless your team are Magomedov, and most people in this arena are, he'll try to drag Poirier down again here. His positioning is just literally pretty much flawless so far. Magomedov five for six on his takedown attempts. Thus far, we'll see if Poirier can get away from the fence here. No, unable to do so. He's tired. It's exhausting carrying all this weight. He's doing more work than could be right now. There's the trips, and it's just the back and forth battle of the trips and the upper body clinch that's just hard to deal with. When you go with good judo players, that's what it feels like. They're always tripping you, and then you lose your upper body balance and stability, and then you're just behind. Oh, nice knee from Magomedov. He has largely muted Dustin Poirier's offense through ten minutes. Two-nil, Khabib. Round three is brought to you by P3, the official protein snack of the UFC. A little frustration from Dustin Poirier on the stool there after round two. Let's see if he can get his hands going here in round three. In, but it's not super tight yet. Now it's in. Guillotine here. No Magomedov staying composed. Gets him off him for a second, and he sticks to the— sticks to the guillotine to keep it, and that's in. That's in tight. But turning to a hip the way he's doing buys him some air. He sticks with it. Wow! Magomedov pops his head out. Crowd goes bananas. And now Magomedov knows how tired Dustin Poirier's arms are, and he gets right on the hand control, and this is what we saw at Curtis Blades earlier, is the hand control on the heavyweight. In the same position, the top leg position, and now his head's higher than Poirier, so Poirier's got to get all that weight off him before he can get away. But first and foremost, he has to attack the hand control of Khabib. We see Khabib's father, Abdulmanap, right there. Proud to be in his son's corner tonight. Now, a possible— Nope. Magomedov bails. It's enough to make it real ugly. It's just mean. Neck cranking, you always— Yeah, right. Cross your jaw. You can't breathe. It hurts your nose. And it's not really— That's in. Magomedov under the chin. There's the tap! Khabib Magomedov! 28-0! Incredible. Absolutely incredible the way he dominates people in the grappling. Never seen anything like it. And this time, a big hug for the UFC president, Dana White! And Dana's going to like that a lot more than what happened the last time around. The standard upon which all lightweights will be judged. Khabib Nurmagomedov submits Dustin Poirier in round three. Wow. I mean, complete dominance from Khabib in that fight. And Dustin Poirier is no slouch, let me tell you. Not at all. And certainly not at all the way Dustin Poirier drew it up tonight. But the celebration— Can't believe it. —is on in Abu Dhabi. With all the pressure firmly in his red corner, Khabib Nurmagomedov delivers yet again. The perfect streak continues. And Dominic, in modern-day mixed martial arts, this is just so difficult to do. And yet, he continues to take on the lightweight division's best. And is able to finish Dustin Poirier tonight. And it always starts with his takedown. I mean, you look at the speed of his shots. First, he wears you out, and then the speed is just so, so quick, how he gets in. Pushed you against the fence. And this is a great guillotine. I mean, this is in. But this is what he's got. This is his Hail Mary right here, Dustin Poirier. It's in, and he did not give up on it. But the way that Khabib kept moving his hips side to side to get space and eventually work his neck out, that took all the air out of Dustin to go for that last guillotine. And all the muscle out of his arms. And then that allowed Khabib to be able to go for that choke at the end. He softens him up a little, and then sinks it in. And you see him get that hand behind the head, and he knows that that's it. Beautiful finish. Perfect display of mixed martial arts grappling from Khabib Nurmagomedov again. Well, since UFC 178 in 2014, when Poirier fought Conor McGregor, he had lost just one of 11 fights while taking on a murderer's row of UFC talent. Ladies and gentlemen, referee Mark Goddard has called a stop to this contest at two minutes, six seconds of the third round. Declaring the winner by submission due to a rear naked choke. And... Still! The undisputed UFC lightweight champion of the world! Khabib! The Eagle!