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ESPN -- Dustin Poirier and Israel Adesanya walked out of the Octagon on Saturday night as champions, and it had only a little to do with the shiny new title belts they carried with them. Their performances in the main event and co-main of UFC 236 in Atlanta made them interim champs, which is to say that neither man sits alone at the top of the mountain in his weight class. But the fights they put on -- digging deep to find moments of dominance when they needed to set a tone or change momentum -- elevated them both to a status that few fighters reach.
This has been a long time coming for the 30-year-old Poirier, who has been competing as a professional mixed martial artist for a decade. Saturday's fight was his 22nd in the UFC -- the second-longest wait a fighter in the promotion has had to endure for a title shot, behind only Michael Bisping's 26 bouts -- and his résumé is dotted with near misses.
He has paid his dues, and when his opportunity finally came, he went for it with a vengeance. Poirier took it to featherweight champ Max Hollowayfrom the start of Saturday's headline bout, wobbling him several times in the first two rounds of their interim lightweight title fight.
But it was in the third round -- a round Poirier lost -- that the son of Lafayette, Louisiana, truly showed championship mettle. Despite looking tired and slowed from the fast early pace he'd set, Poirier withstood the best that a rallying Holloway could dish out. That resilience allowed Poirier to make it to the championship rounds, which lived up to their name in a big way. Poirier somehow rediscovered his earlier high gear and turned the fight back in his favor, bloodying Holloway with a big knee in Round 4, which ended with the 145-pound champ wearing a grotesque mask of crimson. Poirier didn't let up in the final round, ensuring that he would be the one being handed the interim belt.
Turnaround was also at the heart of the Adesanya story, and in an unexpected way it grew the legend of the 29-year-old native of Nigeria, who has lived in New Zealand since his teens. Adesanya went into his interim middleweight matchup with Kelvin Gastelum as an enigma. He had had only five UFC bouts (over just 14 months), yet the flashy former kickboxer was considered the next big thing. Gastelum represented his biggest test yet.
Yes, it's true that "The Last Stylebender" shared a cage two months ago with Anderson Silva, one of the greatest of all time. But "The Spider" whom Adesanya faced at UFC 234 was a faded 43-year-old version. Adesanya's most dangerous opponent that night might have been himself, as he was stepping in with an idol and at times seemed awestruck, struggling to get out of his own way.
Saturday's fight was Adesanya's first against a ranked opponent. (Gastelum is No. 3 in ESPN's middleweight top 10, with Adesanya at No. 7.) Could he show the flair and flash that he'd put on display in his previous bouts? The simple answer was no, but the rest of the answer is that he showed something more important.
Adesanya was poised from the start, in no rush to show off. The story of the fight early was not the shots he was landing but rather the shots Gastelum was not landing. Adesanya's footwork and head movement were as masterful as ever, but in the first couple of rounds of this fight they were more tools of self-defense than offensive weaponry. What proved to be Adesanya's most potent weapon was the thing that's midway between his head and feet -- his heart.
After Gastelum, a veteran who'd been tested by the sport's best, gradually found ways to clip Adesanya, the fight started to swing his way. He put Adesanya in deep trouble in the fourth round, and when the horn sounded Adesanya went back to his corner looking like a beaten man. But Adesanya came out for the fifth round and seized control, knocking down Gastelum three times in those final five minutes and nearly finishing him. He earned 10-8 scores from all three judges, securing the decision in a fight that was up for grabs. This timely display of grit was more impressive than any of the front-running dominance Adesanya had shown before.
They're in a fire fight early!!#UFC236 pic.twitter.com/ge9JdcrGNj
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
NASTY elbows landing for @BlessedMMA! #UFC236 pic.twitter.com/B6rv5XDJLw
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
The knee that cut Holloway!
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
2-2 heading into round 5? What's your scorecard say? #UFC236 pic.twitter.com/t4ur17DRh1
Adesanya drops Gastelum in round 2! #UFC236 pic.twitter.com/dfkOdR5bDm
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
Gastelum gets the takedown but Adesanya gets right back to his feet!#UFC236 pic.twitter.com/OyszPC2Zo0
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
WHAT A SEQUENCE!!!#UFC236 pic.twitter.com/LeT74Kz6zn
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
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