While Dustin
Poirier (30-8) is one of Mike
Brown’s best fighters at
American Top Team, “The Diamond” also gives his coach a lot of
stress.
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Poirier is scheduled to challenge Islam
Makhachev (25-1) for lightweight gold in the main event at
UFC 302 on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“The Diamond” earned his shot with a second-round knockout over
French finishing machine Benoit St.
Denis at UFC
299 in March. Prior to knocking out St. Denis, Poirier
attempted multiple unsuccessful guillotine chokes, compromising
position each time. When Brown told Poirier to avoid the
guillotines after Round 1, “The Diamond” responded by saying he
could secure one and proceeded to go for another right at the
beginning of Round 2.
While things worked out well for Poirier in the end, Brown admits
that the Louisiana native is his most stress-inducing fighter by
far. Aside from Poirier being hard-headed at times, the pressure
also comes from their close bond, which started with his
promotional debut in 2011.
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“Oh, he’s No. 1 [to stress me out] by far. By a long shot, by a
long shot,” Brown recently told Shakiel Mahjouri. “But I also care about him, so the
more you care the more you’re going to be stressed. He can make it
harder on himself sometimes. And he is his own guy, at the end of
the day he does what he wants to do. Yeah. he’s his own guy. When
he’s got something in his head, he’s going to do it. The guillotine
is a good example. If he wants to jump a guillotine, he’s jumping
the guillotine.”
While Brown couldn’t recall who stressed him out the most after
Poirier, he was quick to mention the fighter who had the opposite
effect on him while coaching.
According to the ATT head mixed martial arts coach, former
Professional Fighters League lightweight champ Kayla
Harrison (17-1) stresses him out the least, thanks to her
disciplined and coachable approach to the sport.
“The least would probably be Kayla Harrison. She’s going to do
whatever you ask of her. And obviously, who she’s fighting and
where’s we’re at. Probably I have less stress with Kayla.”
Harrison recently made her UFC debut at UFC
300 last month against former bantamweight champ Holly Holm.
Harrison picked up a dominant Round 2 submission win after “The
Preacher’s Daughter” seemingly elected to clinch with the former
Olympic gold medalist judoka.