UFC Featherweight Dustin Poirier Joins American Top Team

A born southerner, Dustin Poirier has spent his entire career fighting out of Lafayette, Louisiana under UFC and Ultimate Fighter veteran Tim Credeur. A black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Credeur taught Poirier the ins-and-outs of submission grappling. Currently a purple belt in BJJ, Poirier has shown excellent grappling ability in his seven fights under Zuffa. Poirier stands at 12-2 in his professional MMA career and is coming off a loss to Chan Sung Jung, aka "The Korean Zombie", in one of the best fights of 2012.

Moving to American Top Team Poirier stands to benefit from the excellent coaching staff, lead by BJJ Black Belt Ricardo Liborio. A fearsome competitor in his youth, Liborio trained under legendary BJJ coach and Vale Tudo fighter Carlson Graice and became the very first BJJ Heavyweight World Champion. Liborio was one of the fighters that broke away from Carlson's team to form one of the first MMA super camps, Brazilian Top Team. Liborio then set up his own school in Florida, naming it American Top Team. Now a 7th degree black belt in BJJ, Liborio is considered one of the best grappling coaches in the world.

Helping Liborio run American Top Team is Howard Davis Jr., a 1976 Olympic Gold medalist in boxing. Davis was a highly successful amateur and professional boxer, he is now an accomplish striking coach and has helped mold some of the best strikers in MMA. Poirier stands to benefit greatly from Davis as striking is were Poirier could make his largest strides in terms of improving his skill set.

American Top Team is also home to excellent Muay Thai kickboxing and wrestling programs and produces some of the most well rounded fighters in the sport. Joining Poirier in his trip to Coconut Creek is fellow newcomer lightweight Nick Newell, a one armed MMA fighter who made a name for himself fighting in New England.