January 8, 2024 12:30 am ET
Dustin Poirier will oblige to call for him to give a surging lightweight contender a chance when he meets the streaking Benoit Saint-Denis in the UFC 299 co-main event.
UFC CEO Dana White announced Sunday that former interim champ Poirier (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) will clash with Saint-Denis (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in a five-round bout on the March 9 card, which takes place at Kaseya Center in Miami with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Poirier, No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings, will attempt to rebound from a second-round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in their “BMF” title fight at UFC 291 this past August. “The Diamond” has never lost consecutive fights during his career.
No. 13 Saint-Denis will attempt to extend his five-fight winning streak inside the octagon, all of which have been stoppages. The latest of those came at UFC 295 in November, where he knocked out Matt Frevola with a spectacular head kick in the first round.
The latest UFC 299 lineup now includes:
Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – for bantamweight title
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint-Denis
Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Song Yadong vs. Petr Yan
Kevin Holland vs. Michael Page
Maycee Barber vs. Katlyn Chookagian
Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes
Asu Almabaev vs. CJ Vergara
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Mateusz Gamrot
Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
Lauren Murphy vs. Karine Silva
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
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