Khabib Nurmagomedov Remains Terrifyingly Good, Submits Dustin Poirier To Unify Lightweight Championship

Eleven months after his prior title defense against Conor McGregor—and the post-match brawl that—Khabib Nurmagomedov reasserted himself as one of, if not the best fighter in the world. Against the interim UFC lightweight champ Dustin Poirier, Khabib dominated all 12 minutes of the fight, consolidating the belts to become undisputed champ once again with a third-round submission.

Poirier, a more than worthy opponent on paper, looked thoroughly shaken between rounds, and had no answer for Khabib’s nonstop pressure. Before he went down in the third, he found a spark of desperate offense with a guillotine submission, but Khabib made the escape look easy, and from there, Poirier had nothing left.

Khabib playfully jumped out the cage again after this win, but this time it was to give Dana White a euphoric hug. The dominant champ has plenty to be happy about—he remains undefeated for his entire MMA career, with a 12-0 record in UFC.