A fan favorite Stockton native could soon return to the Octagon, as a call out from Nate Diaz to Dustin Poirier was made over Instagram on Sunday.
“I’m training to whoop ur ass next,” Diaz wrote as a caption to a photo of him and Poirier. “Be about it don’t talk about it.”
Poirier and Diaz were slated to fight in November 2018 as the main event of UFC 230. The fight fell through when Poirier suffered a hip injury, though Poirier said Diaz “over-negotiated.”
“They wanted to switch it to five rounds, man, it was just so messed up dude,” Poirier told the MMA Hour after the bout fell through. “Nate was being hard to deal with, I believe. Every weight class they offered it at, 155 and he wanted 160, and I agreed to that. He kind of negotiated himself out of a main-event spot. They offered us the main event, I accepted, Nate over-negotiated, they lost the main event, it was just back-to-back days of him trying to have his way, honestly.”
UFC 230 would go on to be headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis.
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Poirier recently redeemed a loss by knocking out Conor McGregor at UFC 257 on Saturday. In his press conference, Poirier was asked what fight would interest him next. He replied that completing the trilogy with McGregor would interest him, as the series is 1-1; McGregor TKO’d Poirier at UFC 178 in September 2014.
However, “The Diamond” went on to give a bit of a surprising answer.
“Always wanted to whip Nate Diaz’s ass,” he said. “That interests me. I’m sure something will make sense. But just right now, I don’t know. Me and Conor are 1-1. Nate Diaz got away and likes to talk a lot of shit online.”
Poirier’s next fight could be for the UFC lightweight title, as Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira are both coming off wins. Poirier told reporters he would not fight Chandler, who knocked out Dan Hooker in his promotional debut on Saturday.
“Respect to Chandler, a great win over a guy,” Poirier said. “But to come in and beat a guy that I just beat and get a title shot? I’ve been what is this, 27, 28 fights in the UFC trying everything fighting the toughest of the toughest guys to get my hands on gold. He should fight Charles Oliveira or something. Let Chandler and Charles Oliveira go at it. That doesn’t really interest me at this point. I’m going to go sell hot sauce if that’s the case.”
Seemingly, a fight with Diaz interests Poirier. And based on Diaz’s post on Instagram, the feeling is mutual.
Diaz last fought at UFC 244, when Jorge Masvidal beat him for the “Baddest Motherfucker” belt via doctor stoppage. Diaz is 3-2 in his last five with wins over McGregor, Anthony Pettis, and Michael Johnson. Like Poirier, Stockton’s Diaz is 1-1 in his series with McGregor.
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