Dustin Poirier open to eventual move to 170 to face Nate Diaz: ‘He’s a guy I’ve always wanted to fight’
Dustin Poirier isn’t giving up on a future fight with Nate Diaz.
The two were once scheduled to meet at UFC 230 on Nov. 3, 2018, a lightweight bout that was expected to serve as the co-main event of a major pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden. Poirier eventually withdrew from the bout due to an injury, but the prospective matchup was already fraught with drama as Diaz angrily left a press conference to hype the event (seemingly feeling disrespected that UFC 230 was overshadowed by the announcement of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor).
More drama followed the cancellation of Diaz’s bout with Poirier as both accused the other of hijacking the fight. Diaz questioned Poirier’s toughness, tweeting “You ain’t about this life,” while Poirier claimed that Diaz was causing issues during negotiations. One thing the two did agree on is that their bout was worthy of a main event slot and could have served to crown the UFC’s inaugural 165-pound champion.
Poirier moved on to great success in the lightweight division, capturing an interim title at UFC 236. During a discussion about weight cutting on The Joe Rogan Experience on Friday, Poirier mentioned the possibility of someday meeting Diaz at welterweight.
“Before I’m done fighting, I’ll go up to 170,” Poirier said. “Yeah, I’ll go up to 170 to fight Nate.”
The two UFC stars have continued to lobby shots at each other over the years, with Diaz fighting sporadically since 2016. Ahead of Diaz’s “BMF” title fight with Jorge Masvidal in November 2019, Poirier referred to Diaz as a “fake-ass gangster.”
More recently, Diaz called Poirier out again when Poirier lobbied for a trilogy bout with Conor McGregor.
Poirier did not mention the recent trash talk between himself and Diaz, but noted that the heat between them has always been there and that it’s a score he’d still like to settle someday.
“Me and him were supposed to fight at Madison Square Garden,” Poirier said. “I kind of was the fall guy—He gets to point and say I pulled out of the fight and I did. I went to get stem cells done on my hip.
“But I was going to fight, I was going to go through a camp and fight him if they wouldn’t have started offering me other replacement opponents, Nate was playing games with the UFC, UFC started offering me opponents and I said, ‘Look guys, if this is happening, I’m just going to have my hip taken care of.’ He’s a guy I’ve always wanted to fight.”