Dustin Poirier will oblige to call for him to give a surging lightweight contender a chance when he meets the streaking Benoit Saint-Denis in the UFC 299 co-main event.
UFC CEO Dana White announced Sunday that former interim champ Poirier (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) will clash with Saint-Denis (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in a five-round bout on the March 9 card, which takes place at Kaseya Center in Miami with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Poirier, No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings, will attempt to rebound from a second-round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in their “BMF” title fight at UFC 291 this past August. “The Diamond” has never lost consecutive fights during his career.
No. 13 Saint-Denis will attempt to extend his five-fight winning streak inside the octagon, all of which have been stoppages. The latest of those came at UFC 295 in November, where he knocked out Matt Frevola with a spectacular head kick in the first round.
The latest UFC 299 lineup now includes:
- Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – for bantamweight title
- Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint-Denis
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
- Song Yadong vs. Petr Yan
- Kevin Holland vs. Michael Page
- Maycee Barber vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes
- Asu Almabaev vs. CJ Vergara
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Mateusz Gamrot
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
- Lauren Murphy vs. Karine Silva
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
