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Dustin Poirier believes Petr Yan is the best boxer in the UFC. 'The Diamond' said Yan's movement is top-notch and his punches are incredibly accurate.
Yan recently fought Cory Sandhagen for the interim bantamweight title at UFC 267. He won the fight via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46). The Russian displayed excellent footwork that kept Sandhagen at bay.
While speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Poirier was asked who he thinks is the best boxer in the UFC. The top-ranked lightweight said:
"I think Petr Yan. Just the way he moves. He doesn't waste a lot of movements. His positioning is always crisp. He's never out of position. He doesn't load up while he's throwing clean power shots. Good accuracy, works the body well, goes up, goes down. It's just a lot of things that he does really, really well.
Max Holloway proclaimed himself as UFC's best boxer when he fought Calvin Kattar in January this year. Poirier, who has two wins over Holloway, said he doesn't think that distinction belongs to the former featherweight champ.
Despite his well-known boxing skills, Poirier admitted he isn't the best boxer in the promotion.
Dustin Poirier appears on The MMA Hour below:
Dustin Poirier wanted to become a boxer before he pursued MMA
As a youngster, Dustin Poirier wanted to make a career in boxing. However, that changed after he saw mma fighters train at his gym.
"Before I ever put a pair of MMA gloves on, I was in boxing gyms. I thought I was gonna grow up and be a boxer. I ran into some guys at a boxing gym who were working on their boxing for MMA and I was like 'Wow! Are you guys training for MMA?'. I didn't know they had a place around here that was focused on that and then I went back with these guys to their MMA gym and the rest his history," said Dustin Poirier.
Dustin Poirier's last fight was against Conor McGregor at UFC 264. He's set to take on Charles Oliveira next for the lightweight title at UFC 269. The event will be held on December 11, 2021.
