Outside Source
A matchup between Poirier and Diaz is one of the most anticipated bouts that never came to fruition. However, Poirier is still willing to come out of retirement to fight Diaz.
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Poirier and Diaz were scheduled to fight at UFC 230 in 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight fell through as Poirier was allegedly forced out due to a hip injury. However, Poirier claims the narrative was slightly manipulated. According to “The Diamond,” he was willing to fight Diaz, who was having negotiation issues with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Poirier claims the UFC offered him alternative opponents for UFC 230. However, Poirier only wanted to fight Diaz, or have a hip surgery instead of fighting anyone else. Poirier claims Diaz manipulated the narrative and blamed him for the fight falling through.
“I still wanna whip Nate’s a**… I’ll come back to fight him… The UFC knew I was going to fight Nate in our first matchup in Madison Square Garden,” Poirier said on UFC on Paramount. “Nate was having trouble with his negotiation. I don’t know what was going on. But UFC called me and said, ‘Hey, we want to keep you on the MSG card, would you fight so and so?’ They started to offer me other people. I said listen, ‘If it’s not Nate, I’m not fighting. I’m going to have my hip taken care of. If it’s Nate, I’ll fight.’… And then Nate used that — like I was the fall guy, like the fight’s off because I pulled out. But I never pulled out. I just didn’t want to fight anybody else but Nate.”
Diaz (21-13) retired from the UFC with a submission win over Tony Ferguson in 2022. Diaz has since lost a boxing match against Jake Paul and won another against Jorge Masvidal. Diaz is now scheduled to fight Mike Perry on an MVP MMA card on May 16 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Poirier (30-10) hung up his gloves following a decision loss against Max Holloway last year. Poirier has made no secret of the fact that he misses fighting.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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