. John Anik
If I win I’ll have to get a 337 tattoo https://t.co/gzuBwZRWsR
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier)
July 9, 2024
Dustin Poirier (30-9) is interested in facing Nate Diaz (21-13), but the Ultimate Fighting Championship is not interested in doing business with Diaz’s brother.
After leaving UFC in 2022, Diaz (21-13) tried his hand at boxing and suffered a controversial split decision loss to Jake Paul before bouncing back to win a unanimous decision over fellow UFC alum Jorge Masvidal last weekend. Poirier (30-9), meanwhile, finds himself at a crossroads in his career after failing to get his third and likely final lightweight title shot against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 last month.
While he has considered retirement, Poirier has acknowledged it would be difficult to stay away from fighting. UFC commentator Jon Anik recently suggested that Diaz could be a logical opponent for Poirier, financially and otherwise. “The Diamond” has also hinted at a bout with Diaz, retweeting multiple posts about the potential matchup.
However, Poirier sincerely doubts a bout with Diaz will ever happen, claiming he’s had multiple chances to fight Diaz but the fight never materialized, and after the last bout, UFC reportedly told Poirier they were no longer interested in doing business with the popular Californian.
“I don’t think UFC is going to do business with him,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t think so. The last time I talked to UFC about Nate, it almost happened again. It was almost done and then it fell apart again. Me and Nate have been through that again so many times. And they told me, ‘We don’t want to do business with him anymore.'”
Poirier and Diaz were scheduled to meet at UFC 230 in 2018, but “The Diamond” was forced to pull out with a hip injury. However, Poirier claims he received more offers to fight Diaz, including one at short notice to save the UFC 279 card.
Diaz’s final UFC fight was originally scheduled to be against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 in September 2022. However, the main card was significantly rescheduled after Chimaev failed to make weight by a whopping 7.7 pounds. Chimaev then fought Kevin Holland at a catchweight, while Diaz faced Tony Ferguson, winning by submission in the fourth round.
Poirier claims he received a call 24 hours before to fill in for Chimaev against Diaz at UFC 279, but it never happened.
“I accepted the fight with him with 24 hours notice. I was going to fly to Las Vegas to weigh in the night of Khamzat’s fight…it’s crazy. Mike Brown flew out to Louisiana on a Thursday just to hang out. We went out to dinner and went to bed. I woke up on Friday morning to a bunch of missed calls and texts on my phone. I was like, ‘Something’s happened, what’s going on?’ It was my manager, Hunter.”
[Campbell]Everybody at UFC has been reaching out and saying, ‘He’s not going to make weight, can he make 170 pounds?’ I’ve been on FaceTime with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, I’ve been on the scale to show I can make weight safely. I’ve started cutting weight. I’ve taken on the challenge of fighting Nate multiple times. He may say what he wants to say, but UFC knows the truth.”
