Dustin Poirier has the heart of a warrior.

This Saturday at UFC on Fox 29, top Lightweights Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje will face off in a 5 round fan-pleasing matchup. Both men are extremely aggressive, and both know how to push through pain and injury. Dustin recently spoke with MMAFighting and had words of admiration for his opponent:

“He’s a guy who doesn’t break mentally. You have to break his body. You have to short-circuit him. You have to make his body stop working. He has a never-die attitude and I respect that about him, and I know what he’s bringing to the table.”

Despite his reputations as blood-and-guts fighter, Poirier says he believes he has the skill edge on Gaethje and will be looking to use it.

“This is going to be the bull versus the matador and I’m going to finesse him out there. I’m going to show my full skill set, my speed, my accuracy, everything I’ve been working on for 11 years. I’m going to show, once again, that I’m going to be the best in the world.”

Curiously, both men are coming off fights to former champion Eddie Alvarez. Poirier was winning his bout when it got ruled a no-contest by illegal knees. And Gaethje was narrowly stopped in a more recent bloodbath. Poirier seems to think Gaethje’s headfirst style will get him into trouble:

“I do know that he’s a tough individual mentally. He’ll push himself, and no matter how much blood or pain he’s in, he’s going to walk forward and try to finish the fight. And I admire that about him, like I said. That’s a warrior’s spirit. But this is a thinking man’s game as well. You have to have a fine balance of both. We’ll see.”

Nobody has ever beaten Gaethje cleanly, so for Poirier to pull it off would be nothing short of a signal that he is ready for a title shot. With a win, his next opponent will most likely be Eddie Alvarez, with whom he has a bone to pick over the illegal knees which ended their first fight.

“I’ll die out there. I know I would, but I don’t want that. I want to go in there and have smooth fight and show my skill.”

Just yesterday, UFC on Fox produced a video analysis of the matchup:

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