Dustin Poirier (right)

By Michael Hatamoto

UFC featherweights Dustin Poirier and Erik Koch met in a battle of two top-10 featherweights at UFC 164, with Poirier winning the decision despite a few tense moments.

Koch clearly had trouble trying to use his footwork to land clean shots on Poirier, and the better, more well-rounded fighter was able to control Poirier.

Koch’s best success in the fight was when he latched on a tight triangle choke in the first round, but Poirier survived and then went on to win the round. Poirier responded by dropping Koch with a beautiful right hand that connected cleanly against Koch, and it looked like that would be the beginning of the end.

Round two was all Poirier, with two judges scoring it 10-8, as Koch was unable to keep up while standing or on the mat. The Duke Roufus-trained fighter had a good third round and was looking to latch on submissions to save his fight, but Poirier was able to survive until the final bell.

Poirier won the decision: 29-28, 29-27, and 29-27.

The American Top Team fighter has won two of his last three fights, and looks to try and earn his way back up the rankings. In his eight-fight UFC career, Poirier holds a 6-2 record, beating the likes of Koch, Jonathan Brookins, Max Holloway, Pablo Garza, Jason Young, and Josh Grispi.

Poirier lost to Chan Sung Jung by submission and dropped a decision to Cub Swanson earlier in 2013 – but his performance against Koch indicates he simply cannot be overlooked.

At just 24 years old, I think Poirier has plenty of time to continue taking tough fights and learning from the in-cage experience.