Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier will fight to unify the UFC lightweight titles at September 7’s UFC 242. Michael Bisping believes the fight should be getting way more hype than it is.
Speaking on his “Believe You Me” podcast (via BJPenn.com), Bisping offered his opinion that the pay-per-view (PPV) card won’t deliver much in terms of overall appeal. The reasoning behind that, he claims, is that the fighters have been wholly respectful to one another:
“No drama, no pointing, no shouting, no swearing. Just respect, which is great to see but it’s not getting the hype. It’s not getting nowhere near the hype. As big as a star as what Khabib is, cause he is a huge star he’s got a massive social media following now, he’s all over the world he’s world-famous, but I just don’t think that’s gonna deliver as much. Just simply because fireworks sell. Simple as that. It does, it’s fighting and it does help sell the fight.”
Poirier ‘Has A Chance?’
As far as the in-cage action is concerned, Bisping believes Khabib to be the bigger man based on their staredown. However, that doesn’t mean he’ll even consider Poirier doesn’t have a shot in Abu Dhabi:
“When I saw Dustin and Khabib square up incidentally, I did notice they’re very similar in stature and size but Khabib looked a lot thicker. I think Dustin’s got a tough fight. In fact, everybody knows that. But the Dustin Poirier that showed up against Max Holloway, [Poirier] definitely has a chance in that fight. You’ve gotta lean towards Khabib, but [Poirier] has a chance.”
That’s okay, as Poirier seems to be relishing the role of underdog.
“The Diamond” no doubt looked better than ever in his interim title-winning bout against Max Holloway this April. However, he’ll meet an undefeated wrecking machine who has a penchant for erasing knockout strikers’ ability to stay upright long enough to hit him. The fight is a huge one for the storied UFC lightweight division; just don’t expect it to have anything resembling the trash talk of Khabib’s feud with Conor McGregor.
And that’s going to cost it in the long run, according to Bisping.
Could Khabib vs. Poirier benefit from some added hype heading into next week’s PPV?
