The bout was awarded Fight of the Night â the eighth time The Diamond has been awarded that honour in his career. Having established himself as one of the most entertaining figures in the game, Dustin Poirier was asked on the MMA Hour why it took so long for him to book a fight.
âIâm not sure,â replied the Lousiana-native. âI guess at this level, the fights have to be right. And thereâs less and less mountain tops when you get to a certain point. The guys that are available and the guys that make sense â sometimes it takes longer,â Dustin Poirier continued and added,
âObviously at the beginning of my UFC career â every fight made sense because I needed to get some traction. Make some noise. Get wins. Now? I want title fights or I want the biggest fights that I can get.â
Sitting at #2 in the lightweight rankings, Dustin Poirier holds a significant position at 155lb. However, the former Interim lightweight champion says that heâs only been offered one fight aside from the rematch with Gaethje.
âThe UFC were talking about a fight between me and Beneil (Dariush.) Dustin Poirier explained. âSince that talk â I havenât been offered a fight. I havenât been offered any of the fights when the guys got hurt and they switched the cards around â my phone hasnât rang. I think they wanted to do this Gaethje fight.â
Dustin Poirier first fought Gaethje in 2018 and won the bout via TKO in the third round. In classic fashion for both men, the match was a barnburner and earned Fight of the Night.
Given their respective reputations, more fireworks are expected when they run it back at UFC 291. The BMF belt will be on the line for the first time since it was introduced for Jorge Masvidalâs clash with Nate Diaz in 2019.
Dustin Poirier has gone 6-2 since the first encounter with Gaethje, âThe Highlightâ has matched that. Which man will come out on top when they go to war in Salt Lake City this summer?
âIâm not sure,â replied the Lousiana-native. âI guess at this level, the fights have to be right. And thereâs less and less mountain tops when you get to a certain point. The guys that are available and the guys that make sense â sometimes it takes longer,â Dustin Poirier continued and added,
âObviously at the beginning of my UFC career â every fight made sense because I needed to get some traction. Make some noise. Get wins. Now? I want title fights or I want the biggest fights that I can get.â
Sitting at #2 in the lightweight rankings, Dustin Poirier holds a significant position at 155lb. However, the former Interim lightweight champion says that heâs only been offered one fight aside from the rematch with Gaethje.
âThe UFC were talking about a fight between me and Beneil (Dariush.) Dustin Poirier explained. âSince that talk â I havenât been offered a fight. I havenât been offered any of the fights when the guys got hurt and they switched the cards around â my phone hasnât rang. I think they wanted to do this Gaethje fight.â
Dustin Poirier first fought Gaethje in 2018 and won the bout via TKO in the third round. In classic fashion for both men, the match was a barnburner and earned Fight of the Night.
Given their respective reputations, more fireworks are expected when they run it back at UFC 291. The BMF belt will be on the line for the first time since it was introduced for Jorge Masvidalâs clash with Nate Diaz in 2019.
Dustin Poirier has gone 6-2 since the first encounter with Gaethje, âThe Highlightâ has matched that. Which man will come out on top when they go to war in Salt Lake City this summer?
He admits he ducked DariushâŚweak
He picks and chooses his fights thanks to the McGregor trend. Now, every fighter, even one with no merit of having a competitive win for years, can just decide when and who to fight, and absurdly, when does choose to fight is rewarded handily.
Agreed. Bu thatâs for the UFC to curb this trend. If it makes sense for the fighters, why would they stop doing this?
Do NOT try that with Thanksgiving turkey
The PoPo will cometh
Look at Dustins UFC career and tell me he doesnât deserve it
Are you the guy that did the turkey in a garbage can by the woods? 
That was a great thread
Dustin has an amazing record. He can do what he wants now.
Conor 3x
Gaethje
Alvarez 2x
Chandler
Korean Zombie
Swanson
Miller
Pettis
Holloway 2x
Oliviera
Khabib
His only bad loss was to Michael Johnson who can seem to be able to beat anyone on certain nights and lose to anyone on certain nights.
Justin wants it more
Wrong.
Dustin has been in the WEC and UFC for 13 years. He is a former int. champ and 2x title challenger. He also happens to be 36 and coming off of some big high profile wins over Conor and Chandler the past few years. He now happens to be approaching the end of his career and he is wealthy. Nothing wrong with wanting the right fights.
What do you want him to do, fight all the young killers until UFC cuts him like they did with JDS?
There are three things in playâŚ
the best interest of the fighter
the best interest of the promotion
the best interest of the fans
Saying a guy who has fought everyone like Max, Khabib, Conor 3x, Pettis, Gaethje, Eddie, Cub etc⌠âpicks and choosesâ his fights because he wants a big fight is ridiculous.
Dustin is 9-2-0-1 in the past six years at the highest level of the UFC LW division. Of course he has some say in what fights he is interested in.
One of the most exciting and FOTN/POTN winning fighters in UFC history.
As soon as Gaethje beat Fiziev it was obvious to everyone that Poirier vs Gaethje II was next.
Lets not act like Gaethje is some tomato can because you saw Khabib and Charles able to submit him.
okâŚ
Doesnât matter
Lost and wasnât even close. Lost all recent fights against true competitors (i.e. fights not based on pop culture or demand)
Except for its effect on the sport as a whole, among other things, transitioning from emphasis on mostly (nothing is perfect) quality-based match making to fighters choosing themselves over the product.
I donât really care about Porier but rather what he and others represent. See above. I couldnât give two shits about other feeding his greed.
Irrelevant. He fought all these guys a while ago. Conor and Gaethje werenât handpicked by him!? If anything is ridiculous, itâs this remark, even among your other weak ones.
Yawn⌠again and again. Heâs been here for years, he fought the best. You could make your reply more succinct. Irrelevant. âOf course he has some sayâ â indeed, thanks to the UFC selling the sport to McGregor and his greed.
hmmm⌠irrelevant
Not really. Bored media who wanted another low quality slug-fest was promoting this fight. And Gaethjeâs win over Fiziev⌠questionable.
I never said Gaethje is a Tomato. Heâs a good journeyman. Entertainment for the masses. Good pick if you want to fight once every year or two and make money from amateur suckers who are willing to pay for it.
Who do you think is a better fight for Dustin?
This
It has nothing to do with Conor. Dustin failed to win the belt twice. Heâs been fighting for a very long time and has fought a murdererâs row of guys. He has given us a lot of wars over the years. He has been a mainstay in the top 3 at 155 for a long time.
He is the prototype for a fighter who deserves to pick their fights and get paid good money.