DAN HOOKER ADMITS AFTER FOUR YEARS THAT DUSTIN POIRIER SUBMITTED HIM WITH A GUILLOTINE: 'HE JUST DIDN'T EVER REALIZE THAT I WAS OUT...'
Ask any of Dustin Poirier's training partners and they will tell you that his guillotine choke is a real problem in the gym.
Despite his unwavering affection for this technique, "The Diamond" is yet to win a fight by this specific method. However, things could have been very different.
In 2020, Poirier produced a fight of the year contender against a fellow lightweight that doesn't have an ounce of quit in him, Dan Hooker.
The fight had just about everything with both men having their moments in a true battle of wills that eventually went the way of the Louisiana native via unanimous decision.
New details from Hooker himself suggest that Poirier could have got his hand raised even earlier had he and the referee noticed something in the middle of the fight.
Dan Hooker Says Dustin Poirier Choked Him Out With A Guillotine But No One Noticed
In the third round of their incredible clash at the Apex, New Zealand's Hooker looked to switch up his approach by shooting for a takedown on Poirier.
As he has been known to do, "The Diamond" caught his opponent in a guillotine and looked to wrap up the submission to close the show.
Hooker was able to survive the choke and make his way out after it appeared to be tight, or so it seemed.
On a recent episode of mainevent for Fox Sports, Hooker and Alexander Volkanovski came onto the topic of close calls with submission attempts.
As Volkanovski reflected on his own nail-biting moment against Brian Ortega, his fellow Kiwi shared a never-before-heard story.
"A funny one, in the Poirier fight, he had me in a guillotine and I might have been the first guy that he ever submitted in the guillotine but he just didn't even realize I was out so I actually woke up.
"It was the third round, I shot for a takedown and he jumped the guillotine and then he must have just run out of steam squeezing because I woke up and I was like, 'Oh the fight's still going', I was like, 'This is cool'. So he did finish a guillotine, just no one realized."