By the Numbers: Dustin Poirier

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For Dustin Poirier, the road to the top was a long one, which makes the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight strap around his waist feel a lot sweeter. Now it’s time to unify the belts as he faces Khabib Nurmagomedov on Sept. 7 at UFC 242. Let these numbers give you a hint on how “The Diamond” will perform when the undisputed championship is at stake.

7: Straight victories to start his career. The native of Louisiana fought in different promotions in his hometown as well as in Mississippi and Quebec, Canada. During that long stretch, he scored two wins in under a minute. He submitted Ronnie Lis in 0:51 and knocked out Derek Gauthier in 0:57. In his eighth fight, Poirier was already competing at World Extreme Cagefighting.

3: Fights that ended in under one minute. His aforementioned early stoppages of Lis and Gauthier were followed by his 0:53 knockout of Zachary Micklewright. It happened at WEC 52, the second and last time he appeared in the promotion. After that bout, he was signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

22: Fights in the UFC. Poirier debuted on Jan. 1, 2011 at UFC 125, winning by unanimous decision over Josh Grispi. This was followed by four more triumphs, including a beautiful mounted triangle armbar finish of future featherweight champion Max Holloway.

2: Fights with Holloway. When Poirier met the Hawaiian for the first time on Feb. 4, 2012, Holloway was a young, scrappy fighter who only had four bouts behind him. He was also making his UFC debut at the time. Seven years after at UFC 236, the pair met again. This time, Holloway was the featherweight champion and was looking to add the interim lightweight strap to his collection. Unfortunately for him, Poirier wanted it more that night. The American Top Team standout beat Holloway again, this time via unanimous decision to set up a fight with Nurmagomedov.

178: Significant strikes landed on Holloway in their rematch. This number surpassed his previous highest output of 174, which was against Justin Gaethje at UFC on Fox 29. While Holloway notably had a higher output at 181 significant strikes, it was Poirier who threw the more telling blows that put his opponent in danger.

50: Percent striking accuracy. After 22 fights in the Octagon, Poirier has landed 1146 out of the 2302 significant strikes he has attempted.

41: Percent takedown accuracy. Poirier was able to take his opponents to the ground 24 times out of 58 tries. His highest output in a single fight was five, which he scored on Anthony Pettis and Jason Young. He also landed four takedowns in his fight with Joe Duffy.

76: Percent finishing rate. Twelve out of his 25 career wins have come by KO or TKO while seven were by submission. Apart from Gaethje and Holloway, he also stopped the likes of Eddie Alvarez and Pettis.

30: Years of age. Poirier was born on Jan. 19, 1989 in Lafayette, Louisiana. The American of French descent wrestled for Northside High School in Lafayette.