Dustin Poirier is one of the top contenders in the UFC lightweight division, and it’s recently become evident that he’s started to focus more on jumping guillotines. Fighters are in a constant state of evolution of course, because adding new weapons to their arsenal is one of the best ways to stay at the top of the game for a longer time. As soon as a fighter’s development begins to stagnate, that gives the rest of the field the opportunity close the gap between them and start overtaking them on a technical level. Particularly as fighters get older, the need to become more technically proficient in a wider range of areas is even greater.
That’s why it’s so important for someone like Dustin Poirier to continue to reinvent themselves, as he’s 35 years old in one of the lightest weight classes and has well over a decade of experience in professional MMA. Even now he’s still able to hang with the very best on the planet thanks to the technical developments he’s made over the years, and he showed that in his most recent win against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299. One particular element of the offense that Dustin Poirier put up caught the eye of many fans though, as he repeatedly jumped into guillotines during the fight.
He recently spoke to Ariel Helwani on an episode of the MMA Hour to explain his new found love of the guillotine choke:
“I’ll never stop jumping guillotines either. He [Benoit Saint Denis] never took me down, I took myself down. I was like five times…Yeah [it’s something I have to hit]. Maybe I’ll submit Islam [Makhachev] with it…[The obsession started] probably a few years ago. Dude, don’t be silly, jump the guilly, that’s the motto.””
The full interview with Dustin Poirier where he vows to never stop jumping guillotines was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMA Fighting: