Before we begin, let's get one thing straight - this may have been the best win of Poirier's career. Not only that, but we probably witnessed a fight of the year on Saturday night.
In Gaethje we have been blessed with a true warrior, a fighter who will go out on his sword for glory. But has he been figured out? When Justin first crossed over to the UFC, in the midst of all the hype some wondered how his style would translate against the best of the best. After three very entertaining fights, have these questions been answered?
Against Micheal Johnson he came out with the "W", but lets not forget he came close to losing that fight. Some would say that due to his style he's always going to look vulnerable, but his past two fights have gone a long way to show that the damage he takes, win or lose, should be taken seriously.
Against Alvarez and Poirier, Justin absorbed a combined 329 strikes. This is a crazy amount of damage to endure. Conor McGregor took a combined 243 in both Diaz fights and we all know how those fights looked. When Rory McDonald fought Robbie Lawler for the title back in 2015, he absorbed 70 strikes; less than Gaethje has in any of his three fights in the UFC.
So we know he takes a lot on the chin. But he gave a very good account of himself against the cream of the crop in the LWD, so how do his skills match up?
Gaethje has shown a very strong skillset so far. He marches forward and destroys your legs with viscous kicks over and over again, and so far nobody has been able to stop him doing so. However, both Alvarez and Poirier found ways to exploit his style in different ways, and in both cases Gaethje failed to adjust his game to compensate.
Alvarez went for the body with great success. You can see clearly that Gaethje shells a lot in defense and Eddie took advantage and initiated clinches and ultimately won the fight with a knee up the middle that may have been meant for the body. Poirier went for combinations up top, countering Justin's leg kicks with tidy boxing, and once again this game plan led to the eventual KO that put Gaethje on the mat.
My takeaway from this is that Gaethje's style can win him fights, and when it doesn't, its at least very entertaining. But his inability (or refusal) to change things up and adjust to his opponent means that he may not get very far in a tough Lightweight division. The damage he takes in each of his fights, while worrying, may be what forces him to change his approach, and so where he goes from here will be interesting.
One thing is certain; its going to be fun to watch!
