Simon Head

MMA Junkie

Many people believed Dustin Poirier might be the man to push UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to his limits, but once again it was "The Eagle" who flew highest as he retained his belt with a third-round submission victory to cement his position as the best 155-pound fighter in the world.

The lightweight title unification bout was the UFC 242 main event at The Arena at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Poirier (25-6 MMA, 17-5 UFC), who came in as interim champ, opened up with a few kicks from distance before Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 14-0 UFC) eventually stepped in and, after a brief pause against the fence, dragged the interim champ to the canvas. Once there, Nurmagomedov took Poirier's back with ease and attempted a neck crank, but Poirier survived. Nurmagmedov then smashed Poirier and attempted a face crank, which again the Poirier gutted his way through.

With the crowd chanting "Khabib! Khabib!", the champ continued his relentless ground assault, maintaining back control before Poirier spun his way around, only to end up mounted and stuck against the fence, where he found himself on the receiving end of a late barrage of elbows as the horn sounded.

Despite being on the receiving end at the end of Round 1, Poirier grinned at Nurmagomedov and chatted happily with his corner before the action resumed. But things didn't get much better for "The Diamond" in the second stanza.

After an aborted flying-knee attempt from the champion, Poirier let fly and connected with three successive right hands that had "The Eagle" backing away to safety. But, once again, Nurmagomedov caught the American too close to the cage and shot in to take him to the mat once again. Then, with the fight back down on the mat, Khabib went to work with his smothering grappling game as he refused to allow Poirier any separation against the cage.

With Poirier unable to stem the tide of takedowns from Nurmagomedov, he looked instead to catch the Russian star shooting in and locked up a guillotine choke as he perfectly timed a takedown attempt. But despite a concerted effort by Poirier to finish the fight, Nurmagomedov stayed composed and eventually worked his way out of the hold as the crowd roared its approval.

Then, after escaping Poirier's grip, Nurmagomedov swiftly took the back and locked up a rear-naked choke that Poirier just about managed to defend. But a repeat attempt proved successful as he put on the squeeze and forced the tap at the 2:06 mark in the third round to extend his undefeated record to 28 fights and add to his growing legacy as one of the most dominant fighters in history.