Despite his loss in his quest for the undisputed lightweight championship in December, Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier may be back in action much sooner rather than later.
According to The Score, Poirier said that he has verbally agreed to an offer from the UFC to fight with superstar Nate Diaz, but they are waiting on Diaz’s response.
Poirier also clarified the exact state of where the agreement is at right now, saying “no contract has been signed yet, but if this does go through, I’m going to take it.”
“no contract has been signed yet, but if this does go through, I’m going to take it.”
Diaz and Poirier have been linked to each other for years not but have never actually fought. Talks of a fight between the two heated up yet again just days after Poirier lost to Charles Oliveira in a lightweight championship bout at UFC 269 in December. Speaking after the loss, Poirier said that nothing excited him right now unless Diaz was interested in a fight. Diaz responded and the two said they wanted to do it right away at the first PPV of the year at UFC 270.
Dustin Poirier just said he’s fighting Nate Diaz next ‼️ pic.twitter.com/5vWTZzXJlj
— ً (@AceBoxingMMA) January 4, 2022
With UFC 270 taking place on January 22, it’s obvious that it won’t be taking place on that short of notice at this point. However, UFC 271 in February is not off the table right now.
The Weight
Poirier also mentioned that if the fight were to happen, it would happen at welterweight. Poirier has never fought at welterweight (170 pounds) before, only featherweight (145 pounds) and lightweight (155 pounds). Meanwhile Diaz has fought at welterweight since 2016 when he moved up from lightweight.
Will The Fight Actually Happen? (Author’s Opinion)
I’ve said in the past that if I could go back in time and save one MMA fight that was cancelled, this would be the one. When the two were first scheduled to fight in 2018, I was CRUSHED when it fell apart. It was the one fight that has stuck in my head for years as the one that got away. So it goes without saying that I really hope that this fight does come together at some point.
However, I have some major skepticism about this fight coming together at this point and in this way. It has been widely talked about that Diaz is in the final fight of his contract, and speculation has been that once he finished his contract he will try to go somewhere else to cash in on a big payday, specifically a Jake Paul fight (which he cannot do while under contract with the UFC). With it being the case that he only has the one fight left on his deal, it’s hard to imagine the UFC will want to burn that on a short notice fight with Poirier. The UFC typically isn’t in the business of short notice mega fights as with fighters that have the star power of Diaz and Poirier they will want to make sure they have enough time to give the fight proper buildup and promotion.
It’s likely the UFC will want to hold onto Diaz until Conor McGregor is ready to comeback from his injuries and do McGregor-Diaz III as McGregor’s comeback fight. McGregor, Diaz, and the UFC have all said for years that all parties are interested in a trilogy fight, and it only makes sense. Personally I’d look for the UFC to try to hold onto Diaz to try to cash in on this fight, as much as I’d love to see Poirier-Diaz.
However, I’ve doubted fights will come together in the past and I’ve been proven wrong. After all, ANYTHING can happen in the fight game!
