Dustin Poirier Gets His Wish: Erik Koch at UFC 143

Dustin Poirier

Featherweights each riding four-fight streaks

After his third straight since coming to the UFC, Dustin Poirier said he knew the UFC would throw him a tough opponent for his next fight.

Poirier got his wish on Tuesday. The UFC announced a featherweight bout between Poirier and Erik Koch for UFC 143 in February. The UFC said on its official Twitter feed the two fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, which will take place on Super Bowl Saturday in Las Vegas.

Poirier (11-1, 3-0 UFC), who trains with fellow Louisiana native and UFC fighter Tim Credeur, fought through a kneebar attempt from Pablo Garza on Saturday at the UFC on Fox and submitted Garza with a D’Arce choke in the second round. The win was Poirier’s fourth straight and moved him a spot up the ladder in the 145-pound division. Poirier debuted in the weight class in January, upsetting Josh Grispi at UFC 125 and derailing “The Fluke’s” dream of a featherweight title shot.

Koch (13-1, 2-0 UFC), a product of the Duke Roufus team in Milwaukee, is coming off a unanimous decision win over TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins in September. Prior to that, Koch had back-to-back Knockout of the Night wins in his final WEC bout, against Francisco Rivera, and in his UFC debut at UFC 128 in March, against Raphael Assuncao. Both came in the first round. His only career loss was a unanimous decision to Chad Mendes, who fights Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 142 in January.

UFC 143 is scheduled to take place Feb. 4 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between champion Georges St-Pierre and former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz. Also on the card, Carlos Condit, who took a backseat to Diaz for this shot at St-Pierre, will fight Josh Koscheck, and has been promised the next welterweight title shot with a win. And former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will meet fellow title contender Joe Lauzon.