Dustin Poirier details recent switch from Gladiator Academy to American Top Team

Heading into his fight against Chan Sung Jung at UFC on Fuel TV 2, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight Dustin Poirier was on the cusp of title contention, just one win away from potentially challenging 145-pound kingpin, Jose Aldo.

Racking up four straight wins inside the Octagon after jumping ship from the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization, "The Diamond" proved to be one of the brightest upcoming prospects in mixed martial arts (MMA).

Unfortunately for Dustin, "The Korean Zombie" had his own agenda, one that included his own title aspirations along with a shot at dethroning "Scarface."

In the fourth round of their main event fight, after three rounds of exciting back-and-forth action, Poirier found himself trapped in an inescapable d'arce choke from his opponent, which lead to an eventual tap from the 23-year-old prospect.

After suffering his first loss inside the Octagon and only the second in his career, Dustin felt it was time to put his previous plans in motion and switch to a training camp where he wouldn't be 'the big fish in the pond' anymore.

Assessing his situation along with friend and training partner Tim Credeur, a move to American Top Team (ATT) was the right call, as he explained on "The MMA Hour:"

"We both kind of knew it. He knew it, and I knew it. Before the ‘Zombie' fight we were looking at maybe AKA or something, we were talking about switching camps before that fight. So after the fight, we re-assessed everything, and that's what we chose to do. So we both knew it was time, it was just a matter of what place it was going to be. Me and Tim are good friends, but, I've got a place there (in Florida), an apartment there, I'm going to live there full time. I'm going to do what I have to do, I think there's going to be a lot of huge improvements in my game because of this. We have great fighters here at Gladiators Academy, but I need top-level guys pushing me, I can't be the big fish in the pond anymore."

Leaving Gladiators Academy in South Louisiana, Poirier will now spend his time training with heavy hitters such as Thiago Alves, Antonio Silva, and Mark Hunt, among others, in sunny Florida.

With the help of his new team, Poirier looks to begin his climb up the talent-filled 145-pound division as he takes on former Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner, Jonathan Brookins, at TUF 16 Finale on Dec., 15, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

How about it Maniacs, will the move over to ATT prove be a good one?