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Poirier and Diaz circled each other for nearly five years, but in the end, Nate left UFC without ever fighting “The Diamond.”

Anyone with half a brain would tell you that Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz is a banger of a fight, and that UFC should have booked it when it had the chance for Diaz’s last fight with the promotion at UFC 279 in Sept. 2022.

Instead, UFC tried to bury Diaz on the way out, putting him up against Khamzat Chimaev. That plan went completely sideways after Chimaev flubbed his weight cut and showed up 7.5 pounds over the Welterweight limit, forcing a complete last-minute shuffle of the pay-per-view (PPV) card.

Diaz ended up fighting Tony Ferguson, which was cool and all … but what we should have gotten in the first place was Dustin vs. Nate.

That’s a feeling Poirier agrees with. In a new Bloody Elbow interview with Poirier as part of UFC’s Timex partnership, “The Diamond” was asked who he’d like to fight next. He started out his answer still wistful about the Diaz fight, which slipped through his fingers.

“Man, I really wanted to fight Nate before he left the company,” Poirier said. “You know we tried to make it happen a few times. It just never came together. Something always happened.”

UFC 279 was the obvious time to make the fight, but Poirier and Diaz were dancing around each other for much longer than that. For the entire time that Diaz sat on the sidelines (frozen out as UFC tried to compel him to re-sign), he and Poirier bandied back-and-forth with insults, potential dates and general fight hype.

Before that, the two were nearly set to fight at UFC 230 in Nov. 2018 for the company’s annual Madison Square Garden event. The promotion even had a press conference and face off for it before negotiations between UFC and Diaz broken down.

“He wanted it, he just couldn’t come to terms with UFC,” Poirier explained on Twitter one year later. “They offered us the main event at MSG, but he would only agree if it was on his terms. I was tired of playing games with the guy and that’s when I decided to address an injury I had been dealing with.”

But, there’s no use crying over spilled milk. What about opponents still under contract with UFC? Poirier admitted no one was particularly exciting to him at this time, but a concrete fight offer could change that in a second.

“I’m not sure, man. The guys that are under the roster right now, like names,” he said. “I was just talking about this with someone at the gym. Names aren’t really jumping out to me, but the UFC calling saying, ‘this time, this date,’ that makes me feel different. When it’s real. So sitting back, I don’t know. I don’t know who to fight; what’s going to happen. We’ll just have to see when they call me, how I feel.

“I just want to be excited, I want to be scared, I want to be nervous, and I want to be motivated,” he concluded.

Let’s just hope his next fight is sooner rather than later.

After his loss to Charles Oliveira in Dec. 2021 it took 11 months for “The Diamond” to return, and that inactivity wasn’t by choice. With the two wins over Conor McGregor and the Oliveira fight, 2021 was undoubtedly the biggest year of his career. UFC should crank the momentum back up for Poirier in 2023, if only to make up for their fumbling of the Diaz fight.

The reigning women’s flyweight champion is tired of waiting for her next title defense, but has been told it’s been hard to find an opponent.

2022 was an uncharacteristically quiet year for UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. The Kyrgyzstani fighter has fought twice a year like clockwork since 2015, amassing an impressive seven title defenses. But last year only got one fight in: a controversial split decision win over Taila Santos in June.

An immediate rematch seemed like the obvious choice for an end-of-year fight, but Santos suffered a broken orbital in their fight after a clash of heads. What’s kind of crazy is that Taila will be healed and back in the cage before Shevchenko, as the UFC is booking the Brazilian fighter for a February return against Erin Blanchfield.

In a new interview with UFC.com, Valentina Shevchenko expressed her unhappiness with the wait.

“I wanted to fight in December, but it’s my understanding that it was hard to find an opponent,” Shevchenko said. “I’m just here, training all the time, almost every day, waiting for the call. I’ve been ready since I don’t know, since September? If they call me tomorrow, I’m ready tomorrow.”

“I want to fight frequently, but I realize this is a problem for the UFC to find opponents in order for me to fight frequently. My understanding is that everyone would love to fight for a title, so what’s happening with you girls? Why so quiet?”

Taila Santos certainly wasn’t quiet about a rematch, but in mid-December Valentina seemed to turn down that option, telling Cageside press Santos “has to build up a little bit her name again, because revenge doesn’t work like that.”

Other top contenders include Alexa Grasso and Manon Fiorot, but Fiorot is out with an injury following her UFC 280 win over Katlyn Chookagian.

“If she can’t fight, then Alexa. Let’s go!” Shevchenko declared. “It’s time … The champion is ready, so just bring everyone who is ready. March sounds like very good timing. It’s already January and with all the holidays and New Year, it’s going to run so quickly. March is good timing; it’s kind of perfect. And I would say that I’m open to all opportunities. I like the idea of all these potential challengers.”

Unfortunately, ‘all opportunities’ doesn’t seem to include the champions in the surrounding women’s strawweight and bantamweight divisions. “Bullet” said she wants her next fight to go down at women’s flyweight, and then we can talk about champion vs. champion superfights.

“After this break, I would like to defend my belt once more for the next one,” she said. “But yes, I’m definitely ready for Amanda and Weili. Weili did a very good fight her last fight, she got stronger, and it’s very interesting to watch her fight. I’m definitely open to fight any of these girls.”

Featherweight legend Jose Aldo currently hosts former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in his Orlando home.

Retired UFC featherweight legend Jose Aldo may have some questions to answer regarding the origin of some money he and his wife, Viviane Pereira Oliveira, have allegedly received from the government.

Per Brazilian news outlet Extra, Oliveira’s name was found on Portal da Transparencia, Brazil’s public finance tracking website. It shows her allegedly receiving emergency payouts from a fund designated for some of the country’s poorest families during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the records, Pereira received monthly deposits of 600 reais (approximately $120) between May and October of 2020, with three more 300-real deposits made in November and December of the same year, for a total of 4,500 reais (approximately $860).

Upon further investigating, Extra discovered that Pereira was not registered under Cadunico, Brazil’s platform for social programs, making Viviane ineligible to receive the emergency money.

Most recently, Aldo and Oliveira’s names were in the news for hosting former far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who fled to the United States on December 30 and is currently staying at a mansion in Orlando, Florida. The estate is the property of Famous Family, a company owned by Aldo and Oliveira.

According to Forum magazine, the mansion was bought for $745,000, with the transaction taking place during the months when Viviane was listed to have been receiving the emergency deposits.

Upon learning the news and being approached by the press, Pereira took to her personal Instagram page, where she sent a message to all her followers about the scandal. The short paragraph was posted on the stories section of the platform, where Viviane denied all the claims.

“Just because we put Bolsonaro in our house, the leftists are now snooping on our life. I have never received or registered for emergency help,” she posted.

Aldo has yet to address the situation.

The reports of Oliveira’s alleged illegal deposits are the same as the ones involving several members of the legendary Gracie family, which was brought to light in March of 2022.

Aldo—an loyal Bolsonaro supporter dating back to the 2018 elections—saw his name involved in another scandal recently. According to Forum’s report, the former fighter was allegedly set to receive the amount of 200 thousand reais (approximately $40,000) on October 5 of 2022, which took place between the first and second round of the Brazilian presidential elections.

The money was to be awarded by Brazil’s Ministry of Citizenship and destined to the JAJ Institute, which is chaired by Aldo. Officially, the amount should be destined to organizing a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, which so far has not been announced or taken place.

Due to some bank technicalities, the transaction has not yet been completed. However, the amount has already been reserved for the JAJ Institute and cannot be invested in other causes until its deadline on October 2023.

Aldo (31-8) retired from mixed martial arts following a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili, in August 2022. During his 18-year-career, the Brazilian defeated some of most notable names in the sport, such as Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber, Chan Sung Jung and Chad Mendes.

The 36-year-old successfully defended his WEC featherweight title twice, before it was converted to the UFC featherweight belt that he went on to defend seven more times. He is considered by many to be the greatest athlete in the history of the featherweight division.