5 UFC fighters who appeared to crack under pressure in 2021

#4. Dustin Poirier vs. Charles Oliveira – UFC 269

Dustin Poirier appeared to choke somewhat after failing to put Charles Oliveira away early at UFC 269

UFC 269 promised to be one of the biggest events of 2021. Part of the hype around it came from the headline bout between UFC lightweight kingpin Charles Oliveira and top contender Dustin Poirier.

The fight was largely seen as a pick 'em. While Oliveira had been on a wonderful run of nine wins, capped off with his title victory over Michael Chandler, many fans rated Poirier as the world’s best 155lber thanks to his wins over opponents like Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje.

Early on in the fight, it looked like it would be Poirier’s night. He was able to tag Oliveira with some brutal punches, seemingly hurting the Brazilian and putting him in real danger. However, ‘Do Bronx’ was able to survive the onslaught and when the fight moved into the second stanza, it looked like Poirier had simply blown his wad.

‘The Diamond’ found himself grounded for almost the entirety of the round and things didn’t change in the third. Oliveira quickly closed the distance again, barely allowing Poirier a chance to hit him, and dragged him to the ground before choking him out moments later.

Considering how good Poirier looked in the opening round of this fight, to see him give up the ghost in the way he did was jarring. The only explanation that really made sense was that when he couldn’t put ‘Do Bronx’ away early, he simply cracked under the pressure.

---

#3. Israel Adesanya vs. Jan Blachowicz – UFC 259

UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya failed to produce his best against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259

March saw UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya handed a unique opportunity to become only the fifth man to hold two UFC titles in different weight classes simultaneously. He stepped up to 205 pounds to take on reigning light heavyweight kingpin Jan Blachowicz.

On paper at least, this fight seemed tailor-made for ‘The Last Stylebender’. Sure, Blachowicz was renowned for his remarkably heavy hands, but Adesanya had faced knockout artists before and defeated them. More to the point, in comparison to fleet-footed middleweight strikers like Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa, both of whom were knocked out by Adesanya, Blachowicz seemed downright plodding.

Many fans expected a fight that would look like Anderson Silva’s legendary defeat of Forrest Griffin in 2009, but things couldn’t have panned out further from that if it were possible.

Adesanya took the early rounds of the fight, but it immediately became clear that he was struggling to get his usual pinpoint accuracy going. When Blachowicz began to land heavy shots of his own, the tide began to turn.

Eventually, the Polish fighter was able to ground Adesanya, something no other UFC fighter had done before, and managed to outwork him for a pretty clear-cut decision win.

Sure, this was an excellent performance from Blachowicz, but it was hard to shake the idea that he’d caught Adesanya on a real off-day by the high standards of ‘The Last Stylebender’. It suggested that for the first time, the New Zealand native had struggled under high pressure.