Dustin Poirier displayed a magnificent act of sportsmanship after his loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 this weekend.
After waiting two years to have another shot at the lightweight championship, the American lost via submission in the third round, and after the fight, displayed great sportsmanship by pledging to make a charitable donation to his opponent and his hometown.
The 32-year-old said: “I would like to donate $20,000 to the hometown, where he’s from, to somewhere he picks. You pick where the money goes.”
This interaction between the two fighters, with the assistance of Oliveira's translator, occurred in the Octagon, so it happened moments after the conclusion of the bout.
To go from tapping out and losing a title fight, to making a charitable donation worth $20k to your opponent shows just how classy Diamond truly is.
Oliveira (32-8-0) remains the undisputed UFC lightweight champion of the world after he made Poirier (28-7-0) submit with a standing rear-naked choke. After 1:02 of the third round, the American home crowd favourite tapped out to bring an end to an incredible fight.
The fighters were hugging and shaking hands prior to the fight, highlighting the fact there were no bad feelings between the pair, unlike Poirier's last two fights against a certain Conor McGregor.
The first round was seriously contested as Poirier landed the heaviest shots, but Oliveira landed front kicks and knees to the torso. Those kicks took effect in the second, as the champion tripped the challenger and ended up in a top position where he landed heavy elbows to the head and shots to the body over the course of several minutes.
Oliveira happily kept Poirier on the ground, but the latter never really attempted to get up or even open up his guard. He managed to survive the ground and pound in the second, but there was still a lot worse to come for the Louisiana native.
The Brazilian wasted no time in the third round as he climbed on Poirier’s back and submitted him with a standing rear-naked choke to seal what is his 10th consecutive win.
After the fight, the victor said: “I’m the man. They talk, I do it.”
Oliveira has still never seen the championship rounds in his career, which just goes to show how dominant he truly can be.
However, it shows the type of man Poirier is that he made such a generous donation immediately after defeat.
As UFC Europe tweeted, 'being a champion doesn’t begin and end with 12 pounds of gold.'