Dustin Poirier will have to wait on a rematch with Eddie Alvarez, but in the meantime the UFC has a pretty good opponent for him.
Dustin Poirier won’t be getting his rematch with the “King of Violence” Eddie Alvarez any time soon.
But the UFC is looking to hook him up with another bout that should make him and fight fans happy: a battle with Justin Gaethje, who seems incapable of having a fight that doesn’t turn into a Fight of the Night brawl. MMA Junkie first reported the news, and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani confirmed that’s the direction the UFC hopes to go.
The fight will reportedly be put on a card in April or May.
That gives Gaethje a bit more time to recover from his loss at the hands of Eddie Alvarez, who likewise got bruised and battered in a December fight that ended with Alvarez TKOing Gaethje in the third. Before that, Gaethje was a perfect 18-0 and had arrived in the UFC with a huge knockout win of his own over Michael Johnson.
Johnson was the first person to defeat Dustin Poirier since Conor McGregor took him out in the first round back in 2014. Poirier went 6-1-1 after the McGregor loss with the only blemishes the aforementioned Johnson loss and a No Contest to Eddie Alvarez. That came in a fight that Poirier was dominating … until Eddie fired off some illegal knees that left Dustin unable to continue.
Since then Poirier has been seeking a rematch, but Alvarez hasn’t been very interested for obvious reasons. Alvarez went on to fight and defeat Gaethje, while Poirier got his own impressive win over Anthony Pettis at a UFC Fight Night in November.
Whatever card the Poirier vs. Gaethje fight lands on is sure to turn into a must-see event. We’ll keep you posted once a date is determined.