While Dustin Poirier naturally plans on winning with ease, he doesn’t like the narrative that his fight with Dan Hooker is a foregone conclusion.
Poirier returns to action for the first time since September when he meets Hooker in the UFC Vegas 4 headliner this weekend in what is a pivotal lightweight encounter.
“The Diamond” is notably the betting favorite for the contest and although he is coming off a loss to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, many in the mixed martial arts world expect him to be a level above Hooker and get the job done decisively.
But that’s a narrative Poirier is not a fan of — especially as he sees Hooker as a very dangerous opponent that he can’t look past.
“I don’t like that, honestly,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “This guy is dangerous. This guy is a top opponent, a top-five ranked fighter in the UFC for a reason. I don’t look past anybody.
“This guy is the only thing I’m focused on right now. 25 minutes with Hooker and we’ll see what happens. I don’t like the fact that fans and stuff are just passing him over because this is a dangerous guy I’ve been preparing very seriously for.”
Poirier Immune To Trash Talk
Hooker is on a three-fight winning streak and has also won seven of his last eight outings. As of the last year, the New Zealander has also ramped up the trash talk and not only for his opponents either.
When it comes to Poirier, Hooker recently claimed he felt Paul Felder had a better chin and that the former interim champion would not want to keep the fight standing against him.
But as far as Poirier is concerned, trash talk no longer affects him.
“I’m immune to (trash talk) these days,” Poirier said. “I see some stuff on Twitter whenever MMA media pushes it out as a headline or something, but other than that I don’t look into it or read too much into it.
“But he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. He better be saying all that stuff. He needs to believe all that stuff too, because next weekend, we gonna find out.”
