UFC 299, headlined by Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera for the UFC bantamweight championship, has Dustin Poirier taking on Benoir Saint-Denis in a 5-round co-main event. UFC CEO Dana White announced the fight after his vacation along with a number one contender lightweight fight between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan for UFC 300.
UFC commentator, and podcaster Joe Rogan was not in the commentary booth at UFC 297 but he arranged a watch party with Brendan Schaub, Eddie Bravo, and Joey Diaz. During the watch party, Rogan gave a quick preview of the fight between Poirier and Saint-Denis.
Joe Rogan’s advice to Dustin Poirier ahead of UFC 299
Joe Rogan was in the commentary booth at UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden when Benoir Saint-Denis knocked out Matt Frevola. Both Saint-Denis and Frevola were military veterans in their respective countries. Rogan was thoroughly impressed by the Frenchman Saint-Denis as evidenced by his comments about him at the UFC 297 watch party.
“That Saint-Denis guy is a f*cking killer. He’s such a killer, that guy’s such a scary guy,” said Rogan when he talked about the UFC 299 co-main event. Saint-Denis came into the UFC with an undefeated record but lost his debut in a welterweight fight against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. However, the former French paratrooper reeled off 5 straight finishes at lightweight with three post-fight bonuses, and no fight going past the second round.
Joe Rogan cautions Dustin Poirier about the danger of Benoit Saint-Denis ahead of #UFC299 pic.twitter.com/o0nFEtJDaZ
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 25, 2024
Rogan expects a tough fight for Dustin Poirier, who is coming off a brutal head-kick loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 for the iconic BMF title. “I’m telling you, that Benoit Saint-Denis is next level. He’s got furnaces going in his eyes. You look into that guy’s eyes, there’s hell going on behind those eyes,” Rogan further said of Saint-Denis.
“He’s built for it. So, him vs. Dustin is very exciting, and Dustin better be ready to go. You better be ready to go with that guy, because he’s going to try and make a name off of him,” Rogan went on to warn Poirier. From Rogan’s words, it’s evident that he fears for Dustin as Saint-Denis will be looking to break into the top 5 of the stacked lightweight roster.
Does Dustin Poirier deserve title shot with win at UFC 299?
Dustin Poirier is taking a significant risk at UFC 299 by fighting Benoit Saint-Denis, who is ranked outside the top-10 rankings. Poirier has only been fighting big names in the UFC since his bout with former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. However, there is an outside chance that he could fight for a title if victorious against Saint-Denis.
Dana White has already guaranteed a title shot for the winner of Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan. They are fighting at UFC 300 where another contender, Justin Gaethje will be looking to defend his BMF title against former UFC featherweight champion Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has already announced his plans to fight the winner of Oliveira versus Tsarukyan for the PPV on June 2. Moreover, he wants to follow it up with a fight with Gaethje in the Madison Square Garden PPV in November. As per Dana White, Makhachev is injured, and that is the reason for the number one contender fight at UFC 300.
Since Makhachev wants to fight as soon as possible, Poirier could jump in on a third lightweight title shot if the aforementioned contenders become unavailable to fight soon due to injuries sustained during their respective fights. Dustin was one of the names who offered to fight Makhachev on short notice before Alexander Volkanovski was roped in by the UFC.
Do you think Dustin Poirier will be victorious at UFC 300? Leave your prediction below!
