Dustin Poirier made quite the reveal if he’s to be believed.
Poirier is coming off a fourth round TKO win over Justin Gaethje. “The Diamond” and Gaethje met this past Saturday night (April 14). The lightweight tilt served as UFC Glendale’s main event. It is a front runner for “Fight of the Year.”
Before the bout was booked, Poirier was adamant about getting a rematch with Eddie Alvarez. Back in May 2017, Poirier and Alvarez fought to a No Contest. Alvarez landed two illegal knees to his opponent. Many believe “The Underground King” should’ve received a disqualification loss.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Poirier claimed that he was offered a fight with Alvarez at UFC 223 in case anything happened to the lightweight championship headliner:
“Me and Eddie were offered a rematch on that Brooklyn show that Tony and Khabib were on. And my management told me that pretty much they’re probably trying to book this fight because if they fall out, one of you are going to replace them. I accepted the fight. Eddie turned it down. This was months ago. We could have been on that card, Eddie’s ranked higher than me, he probably would have fought for the belt a couple weekends ago.”
Tony Ferguson ended up pulling out of his lightweight title unification bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov due to an injury. Max Holloway was set to replace “El Cucuy,” but was deemed medically unfit to compete during his weight cutting. Al Iaquinta ended up meeting Nurmagomedov.
Poirier went on to say that Alvarez turned down the rematch multiple times after that. With Conor McGregor having legal issues and Ferguson on the shelf with an injury, the next lightweight contender is a mystery. Alvarez and Poirier may indeed have to fight again soon as Nurmagomedov isn’t likely to return before celebrating Ramadan.
Do you believe Dustin Poirier vs. Eddie Alvarez II is the fight to make next?
