Brian Shaw has been declared the World’s Strongest Man on four different occasions but a friendly grapple with UFC Lightweight contender Dustin Poirier shows just how little that title means when it comes to combat sports. This follows a recent trend of UFC competitors taking part in minor grappling matches with experienced weightlifters as Nate Diaz was recently seen making light work of Strength Cartel CEO, Big Boy. Of course, there’s a huge difference between a strong and successful weightlifter, and someone like Brian Shaw, who has routinely proven himself to be the strongest man on the planet in a field of gargantuan competitors.
In fact, the last time a winner of World’s Strongest Man was seen having a grapple with an experienced BJJ black belt it was Hafthor “The Mountain” Bjornsson who managed to actually come out on top against Josh Palmer. Brian Shaw was coming up against a man who was no ordinary black belt however as Dustin Poirier is a UFC veteran who even held the Interim Lightweight World Championship as recently as 2019. It’s likely he would also be challenging for the vacant Lightweight title as well after getting his revenge and knocking out Conor McGregor in his last fight, but that honor was given to Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler instead when Poirier opted to take the trilogy match with McGregor.
The video of Dustin Poirier and World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw grapple was posted on Twitter on the official account of Derek Hall, a writer for MMA news site the MiddleEasy:
@DustinPoirier getting that choke on 4x World's Strongest Man Brian Shaw because size don't mean jack on the mats. pic.twitter.com/8SEdZQ0DtM
— Derek Hall (@aquabuddha7) April 2, 2021
