. @Jon_Anik
has to get a 337 tattoo if I win https://t.co/gzuBwZRWsR— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier)
July 9, 2024
While Dustin
Poirier (30-9) appears interested in fighting Nate Diaz
(21-13), he believes the
Ultimate Fighting Championship won’t do business with the
younger Diaz brother.
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After parting ways with the UFC in 2022, Diaz (21-13) has been
dabbling in boxing, dropping a controversial split decision against
Jake
Paul before bouncing back with a unanimous decision win over
fellow UFC alum Jorge
Masvidal last weekend. Meanwhile, Poirier (30-9) is at a
crossroads in his career after having come up short in his third
and likely final lightweight title bid against Islam
Makhachev at UFC 302 last month.
While he has been contemplating retirement, Poirier admits that
it’s difficult for him to stay away from fighting. UFC color
commentator Jon Anik recently suggested Diaz as a potential
opponent that would make sense for Poirier, financially and
otherwise. “The Diamond” has also been teasing a fight with Diaz by
retweeting multiple posts about the potential matchup.
However, Poirier sincerely doubts the chances of a Diaz fight
coming to fruition. Poirier claims to have come close to fighting
Diaz on multiple occasions, with the fight falling through each
time. The last time it happened, the UFC allegedly told Poirier
that they were no longer interested in business dealings with the
popular Californian.
“I don’t think the UFC is going to do business with him,” Poirier
said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t think so. Last time I spoke to the
UFC about Nate, it was another one where this was close to
happening; it was almost done and then it fell apart again. Which
it’s done a bunch of times, me and Nate. And then they told me
like, ‘We don’t want to do business with him anymore.’”
Poirier and Diaz were slated to fight at UFC 230 in 2018 before
“The Diamond” was forced out due to a hip injury. However, Poirier
claims he accepted many more offers to fight Diaz, including a
short-notice opportunity to save the UFC 279 card.
Diaz’s last UFC fight was originally supposed to be against
Khamzat
Chimaev at UFC 279 in September 2022. However, the main card
saw a massive reshuffle after Chimaev missed weight by a whopping
7.7 pounds. Chimaev went on to fight Kevin
Holland at catchweight and Diaz took on Tony
Ferguson, whom he submitted in the fourth round.
Poirier claims he accepted a call on 24 hours’ notice to replace
Chimaev against Diaz at UFC 279, albeit it never materialized.
“I even accepted a fight against him on 24 hours’ notice. I was
going to fly to Vegas and weigh in the same day the night of the
Khamzat stuff… It’s a crazy story. Mike
Brown flew in on Thursday to Louisiana just to come visit. We
went out to dinner, we went to sleep. Friday morning I wake up, my
phone is like bunch of missed calls, bunch of text. I was like,
‘Something’s happened, what’s going on?’ It’s my management, Hunter
[Campbell], everybody from the UFC reaching out and say, ‘Hey he’s
not going to make weight, can you make 170?’… I’m Facetiming with
the Nevada State Athletic Commission, stepping on the scale so that
I can show them I can make weight safely… I started cutting weight
and everything. Man, I have accepted so many fights against Nate:
he can say what he wants, but the UFC knows the truth.”