Veteran lightweight Dan Hooker hilariously admits that Dustin Poirier does have a long-awaited guillotine submission win in the UFC, technically.
Following Dustin Poirier’s underdog victory over Benoit Saint-Denis earlier this year, the MMA community was celebrating the start of a new meme; the now-infamous ‘Gilly Season’.
Whilst ‘The Diamond’ leaned into the meme after being caught on camera telling his coaches that ‘I can hit that’ between rounds against the Frenchman, it turns out that Poirier already had a guillotine win in the UFC…It’s just that neither he nor the referee realized his opponent was out.
Dan Hooker reveals Dustin Poirier has a guillotine win in the UFC
Back in 2020, when the UFC was still one of only a handful of promotions holding live sporting events during the pandemic, MMA fans witnessed one of the greatest fights of all time when Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker stepped into the Apex cage with Dustin Poirier.
The fight was a brutal five-round war with both men battered and bruised come the final horn, ultimately being labeled as one of the Fights of the Year, and for good reason.
However, it turns out that not only could the fight have been waved off in the third round, but Hooker was indeed the first and only fighter to have suffered the consequence of ‘Gilly Season’.
Speaking via the MainEvent YouTube channel, the veteran explained that “In the Poirier fight, he had me in the guillotine – I might have been the first guy he ever submitted with a guillotine, but he just didn’t even realize I was out.”
Astonishingly, neither Dustin Poirier nor referee Herb Deen realized that the New Zealander was unconscious; resulting in the ‘The Hangman’ waking up, before being able to loosen the noose from around his neck.
“So, I actually woke up, it was the third round, I shot for the takedown, and he jumped the guillotine, and then he must have just run out of steam squeezing,” shared the fan-favorite brawler, adding “I woke up and I was like ‘Oh the fight’s still going? That’s cool.”
Hooker couldn’t help but burst into laughter as the facial expression of former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski turned to shock at such a remarkable confession.
“So, he did finish a guillotine, it’s just no one realized… I full-on woke up smelling the canvas and was like ‘Ah’ – I thought the fight was over… Generally, when you wake up and you’re smelling the canvas, the fight is generally [already] over.”
UFC fans should keep an eye on ESPN this week to see if Poirier himself responds to Hooker’s incredible story, with ‘The Diamond’ actually set to join the broadcast for UFC 303 live from Las Vegas.
Dustin Poirier ‘pumped’ to join the UFC 303 broadcast team
Poirier will join the broadcast team as a guest analyst for UFC 303, telling ESPN Front Row that he’s “pumped” to be returning to the studio for the second time in his career.
“If we’re filming something that we can edit, I’m not worried because I know it’s going to come out perfect every time. But live, you can’t have any hiccups,” said Poirier, acknowledging that broadcasting is all about hands-on, hot-mic experience.
“From talking to people who have experience here, it’s all about reps to get more comfortable and make it more of a natural thing, so I’m pumped to be back again.”
When asked to give a short preview of the upcoming main and co-main events, Poirier noted that Brazilian finisher Diego Lopes has been “making some serious noise in the division” as he prepares to face veteran Brian Ortega.
“You get to use him [Ortega] as a measuring stick to see if he’s still there or if this young new guy is going to take his spot,” said Poirier.
Then, for the main event of the evening, the former interim title holder simply stated that any fight featuring Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira is a “must-see” attraction for MMA fans across the world.
“This guy is putting people out cold. He’s walking in there stoic, walking people down, pushing the ref away. You’ve got to watch this guy fight.”
UFC 303 goes down this Saturday live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.