UFC 291 occurs Saturday night inside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The main event of the evening is between Justin Gaethje and Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier for the vacant BMF title.
What does BMF stand for? Well, you may have to Google that one.
The Youngsville product, Poirier comes into the bout with a career record of 29-7 with one no-contest. His 29 wins include one against Gaethje back in 2018.
In the last five years since their first fight, Poirier has gone 6-2, including winning the interim UFC Lightweight title before falling to Khabib Nurmagomedov a few months later for the undisputed title.
Gaethje has a career record of 24-4 and has also gone 6-2 since their last fight, including an interim UFC Lightweight title victory in 2020. He later lost the title to Nurmagomedov as well.
So, it’s obvious that the resumes of both Poirier and Gaethje are incredibly similar, which should create an incredible fight for the main event for one of just 14 UFC PPVs in a calendar year.
Poirier stands at 5’9″ and 155 pounds, has a 72″ reach, and has a southpaw stance. Gaethje stands at 5’11” and 155 pounds, but only a 70″ reach in his orthodox stance. While Gaethje might be taller, Poirier’s two inches of reach advantage could play a huge role.
Another thing to note with this bout is the elevation factor in Utah will give the upper hand to the fighter that lands more body shots, and I firmly believe that will be Poirier. He’s made his living off of breaking guys down with body blows before finishing them by either knockout or submission.
Gaethje has the ability to land some of the most brutal leg kicks in all of MMA as well, so I’m interested to see which fighter can get into their rhythm first to create an advantage between two of the baddest fighters in the business.
With the odds at -152 in favor of Poirier, my prediction for the UFC 291 main event is that the local product will lift his second championship belt by winning the BMF title over The Highlight, Justin Gaethje.