Dustin Poirier (image via UFC/Twitter)

By FCF Staff

Following his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 299, Benoit Saint Denis reported a staph infection he was dealing with contributed to a disastrous fight week. Since then, Poirier has responded to the lightweight’s comments, and the accomplished fighter isn’t happy about the revelation.

Saint Denis faced Poirier at the recent Miami card, and Poirier finished the rising fighter in the second round with strikes. In an appearance on “The MMA Hour” following the loss, Saint Denis confirmed he was battling staph leading up to the fight and that it led to “the worst fight week”.

In a follow-up interview with MMA Junkie, Poirier took issue with Saint Denis’ comments.

“You say those type of things like ‘I had an infection, I was battling something,’ you say that when you win, you don’t say that when you lose,” Poirier said.

“I’ve gone into so many fights with staph infection, with fractured foot, with lacerated bicep, staph infection in my ear – all kinds of stuff. That’s fighting. We’re on the mats every day. Everybody has something going on going into fights, but you can’t say that when you lose. You’ve got to hush it up.”

With the pivotal win, Poirier returned to the win column and moved his record to 30-8. The former interim lightweight champ was coming off a KO loss to Justin Gaethje in July.

Saint Denis (13-2), meanwhile, was riding a five-fight winning streak before the loss to Poirier.