By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Dustin Poirier was the favorite entering Tuesday's UFC on Fuel 3 main event against "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung, but the 23-year-old fell victim to a much improved opponent, losing by submission in the fourth round.
It was an unexpected result for most. Poirier had come on strong as an emerging featherweight contender, and this fight was supposed to be his move up to the next level and possible title contention. However, after surviving some tough spots early in the fight, Jung proved too much in the fourth, cracking Poirier with a flying knee and locking up a D'Arce choke for the win.
"He was just as tough as I expected," Poirier said after the fight in a post fight interview with
Ariel Helwani on Fuel TV. "I expected a good fight. I'm just upset with myself. We got to those later rounds. He hit me with some big shots, I think in the fourth round. I never was completely out of it, but when I came back to realizing what was going on, I could have sat out I was in D'Arce position. I felt it, but I just didn't defend it right. I feel like I let myself down."
Poirier fought back tears of sadness, frustration, and disappointment as he spoke, and was somewhat in disbelief considering the work he put into this fight. While it was certainly a tough loss, he's still a very young competitor and he plans on making it back.
"I had a really long training camp. I put 100% of myself into the training camp. I'm trying not to get emotional, but I care so much, man, I let myself down. I deserved to win; my wife deserved for us to win..."
"It wasn't even the pressure. I felt fine, I was excited to fight in the main event, it was a huge opportunity for me. I wasn't really worried about the five rounds, my strength and conditioning program was incredible, I felt like I was in the best shape ever. I just took some bad shots, made some mistakes. But I'm going to go back to the gym, work on it, come back and get a 'W'."
Penick's Analysis: This was a rough and unexpected loss for Poirier, but he was caught just as off guard as everyone else at the improvements to The Korean Zombie's game. Jung was just really good in every aspect of the game on Tuesday night, landing some really great shots on the feet, threatening with submissions early, transitioning beautifully at times, etc. Then to get a flying knee knockdown and end with that choke was just fantastic, and Poirier wasn't ready for it. But it can't be forgotten that he's only 23. This is far from the end for him in an eventual run for a title shot. He's still an immensely talented fighter, and he'll learn from this loss moving forward.
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