The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last night (August 31) with UFC 164 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center with a card headlined by Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis. However, to open up the pay-per-view portion of the night, featherweight's Dustin Poirier and Erik Koch went to war.
Poirier was the better fighter, as he completely dominated the first and second rounds, dropping Koch several times and landing hard punches on the feet and ground. It was only a mental hiccup in the third that allowed Koch to come back and almost steal the fight on the mat with a submission.
Poirier was able to survive and took a Unanimous Decision victory, with the scores being 29-28, 29-27, and 29-27 from the judges.
Poirier spoke with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani after the fight and while he discussed his bout with Koch, it seems like he's already looking ahead to rematch with Cub Swanson.
The two fighters met earlier this year at UFC on Fuel TV: Barao vs McDonald in England, where Poirier stepped in on short notice when Swanson's original opponent, Dennis Siver, dropped out due to injury.
With the featherweight division in a holding pattern while champion Jose Aldo rehabs an injury, this is definitely a bout that's likely to happen in the future.
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