Dustin Poirier discussed the challenge of facing Khabib Nurmagomedov and some of his regrets from the 2019 fight after his loss via submission in Abu Dhabi.

The American sat down with Joe Rogan on the latter’s Experience MMA Show, providing a fascinating insight into his perspective of the battle, particularly when he had the Russian in the guillotine chokehold – which Khabib managed to escape from.

“The Khabib fight was close. I should’ve wrapped him, should’ve gone full guard,” said Poirier, when asked about the guillotine he had put on Khabib.

“I haven’t finished anybody in the UFC with it. It’s coming.

“I have a couple variations I do with the guillotine; I submit people all time, put people unconscious. I just know how close it was.

“What haunts me more than the full guard is me not switching to like a d’arce or an anaconda when he roles onto his side, that’s what gets me more – why didn’t I push that arm through?”

Despite his own self-critique, the 32-year-old was full or praise for his former rival.

“He’s so intelligent,” added Poirier.

“People ask me all the time, is he strong? I mean he’s strong, I don’t know if he’s the strongest guy I’ve every fought, but they’re all strong. Nothing overwhelming or that really surprises me, just his understanding of balance and weight placement was incredible.

“I’ve been fighting and wrestling a long time, but he just knew where my weight was and where he needed to be.”

A section of the podcast sees the pair watch back the fight, which can be seen in the clip above, where they analyse Poirier’s guillotine on Khabib, and just how the undefeated Russian expertly created separation.

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“I should have crunched over to keep (him there),” said the former Lightweight Champion when analysing the hold.

“I should’ve pushed the arm through,” he later added, which prompted Rogan to respond: “The motherf*****'s good man, the motherf*****'s good. So technical.”

Poirier, who defeated the returning Conor McGregor in January, avenging an earlier loss in his career to the Irishman, sees a third bout between the pair to complete the trilogy as his next fight.

Meanwhile, it seems that Khabib is happy enough to stay retired with that undefeated record, that was so nearly lost at the hands of Dustin Poirier.