Tap shaming? – Brown reacts to Chandler’s ‘shallow thinking,’ ‘ridiculous’ criticism of Poirier

For the second time in two years, Dustin Poirier failed at his bid for a UFC championship via rear-naked choke, this time at the hands of Charles Oliveira at UFC 269. To add insult to injury “The Diamond” was criticized by the likes of Michael Chandler, who insinuated that he “quit” in that fight.

Chandler’s former opponent Patricio ‘Pitbull’ already came to Poirier’s defense. Likewise, respected UFC welterweight Matt Brown defended the former interim champion for tapping out.

“The fact is, you don’t know where that choke was at with Poirier,” Brown said on MMAFighting.com’s Fighter vs. Writer. “I’ve been choked out before, tapped out to the choke. And every time I ever did, the lights were already shutting out. You’re not getting out of this at this point. You are about to go unconscious.

“So what’s the saving grace of going unconscious? What are you trying to prove? You’re not proving anything, so I think it’s kinda pointless and maybe just kind of shallow thinking. We train all the time, we get choked out, we go against high-level guys. We know when it’s over.”

As for Chandler’s quitter insinuations, Brown had this to say.

“Dustin’s not a quitter. If anybody’s been tested, we know that Dustin’s at the top of that heap,” he said.

“He’s not a quitter, he didn’t quit. He was done, the fight was done, the submission was locked, he wasn’t getting out. What’s the point? Why go all the way unconscious? Again, what are you trying to prove? You’re not proving anything to anybody.

“I’m not about the tap-shaming. It’s ridiculous.”

After the loss to Oliveira, the 32-year-old Poirier dropped to a record of 28-7 (1 NC). In his most recent tweet, the Lafayette native put out this statement.