Dustin Poirier submitted Michael Chandler with a rear naked choke in the third round of frantic back-and forth lightweight fight at U.F.C. 281.
Both fighters showed dominant moments in stand-up exchanges and battles on the ground. Chandler took Poirier down in the first and peppered him with punches, but Poirier ended the round as the aggressor and nearly knocked him out against the fence. His face soon reddened with blood with a cut to the upper lip.
In the second round, Chandler took Poirier down again with his superior wrestling skills and had solid punches on the ground, dominating the round. In the third, Chandler took Poirier down again with an aggressive slam, but Poirier reversed it and landed on top. He then slipped his arm in for the choke during the scramble on the ground.
The fight carried massive implications for the 155-pound division, as both fighters were ranked in the top five. Dana White, the U.F.C. president, predicted the bout to be exciting and said he thought it would earn the $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus.
Poirier, a U.F.C. veteran and former interim champion, joined the promotion in 2011 and rose to his highest level of fame after completing a trilogy of fights against the superstar Conor McGregor.
Chandler, who joined the U.F.C. in 2021, quickly became a fan favorite after exciting fights against the former champion Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson, whom Chandler knocked out with a vicious front kick in May.
Poirier will likely earn a title shot in the near future or perhaps a fight against Oliveira, who is now the No. 1 contender who lost the belt last month to Islam Makhachev. Alexander Volkanovski, the featherweight champion, will challenge Makhachev for the lightweight belt in February in an attempt to become a simultaneous two-division champ.