Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje will fight again at UFC 291 on July 29th for the BMF belt. Their first fight went down back in 2018 and ended with Poirier earning a fourth round TKO win over Gaethje in a fight many considered fight of the year … hell, fight of the century.
This second battle is looking to be just as wild, but both men will be fighting a third opponent in the cage: the altitude of Salt Lake City, which sits 4300 feet above sea level. This will be the third UFC event held in the Utah capitol, and the physical toll of fighting so high up made its mark on several fighters at UFC 278.
In a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Dustin Poirier didn’t sound too worried about any potential impact.
“Dude, I don’t know, I’ll guess we’ll see when we get out there,” he told Ariel Helwani. “I’m kinda planning ahead. I’m having my team reach out to a couple of different altitude tent companies. I’m looking at something to wrap around my bed in training camp, so I’ll sleep at altitude every night.”
“I know Gaethje’s out in Denver, so he’s gonna be coming down to fight,” Poirier added. “He’s got a little bit of an advantage there with the altitude.”
“In the words of my boxing coach, when we talked about it when this started unfolding, he said he don’t care. It could be in space. I’m a high-conditioned combat athlete, and I could fight anywhere for however long, so that’s what we’re going into this with.”
“The Diamond” added that he was considering staying in Park City for a week before the fight, which is a ski town 7000 feet up in elevation. Between that and the altitude tent, he thinks he’ll be okay. He clearly wasn’t too concerned.
“It’s a fight, man,” Poirier said. “Twenty five minutes, come on. We’re not fighting on Mount Everest, dude. Come on, let’s go.”
Poirier is 4-1 over his last five, with the sole loss coming to former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira. Gaethje comes into UFC 291 at 2-1, also having been defeated by Oliveira.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
