3 of the best Justin Gaethje fights, 1 of the worst

3. Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje 1

On July 29, 2023, at UFC 291 Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje will run back their epic 2018 classic for the "BMF" title. Their first contest was everything you would expect and then some. Each fighter was prepared to leave a piece of themself inside the cage that night.

Gaethje used his patented leg kicks from the opening bell to batter both the inside and outside of Poirier's lead leg. Poirier did his best work on the outside tagging Gaethje with hard shots while Gaethje waded into close-quarters combat. The pair combined for a whopping 97 significant strikes landed.

A razor-thin second frame saw the pair stand toe to toe for 5 minutes winging power shots at each other. Poirier, his leg clearly compromised, tried to switch up the gameplan attempting to take Gaethje down had no success. He would also switch to the orthodox stance frequently to try to hide his damaged leg from Gaethje. Gaethje capped off what was an excellent round with a rolling thunder kick.

Much of the same in round three as the duo fought in a phone booth for most of the round. Gaethje seemed to stun Poirier early in the round with a beautiful right hand over the top that landed flush on Poirier's jaw.

The most significant moment of round three was an eye poke from Gaethje that resulted in a point deduction. Gaethje was warned in round two for an eye poke.

As the fourth round begins and Gaethje throws another punishing inside leg kick, Porier throws a crushing left-hand counter that stuns Gaethje. Somehow still on his feet, Gaethje is never able to regain his wits. Poirier, who can't seem to miss, unleashes a barrage of punches at a dazed Gaethje forcing the referee to intervene and call a stop to an all-time classic war.

Fight fans can be assured that anytime these two tangle inside the Octagon it will be an absolute must-see television.