American Top Team coach Mike Brown says Dustin Poirier is “plenty big for welterweight.”
Since his second title fight loss at UFC 269 against Charles Oliveira in December, Dustin Poirier’s next career move has been hanging in the balance. He did hint at a possible welterweight move and a fight against Nate Diaz, but nothing has come to fruition, so far.
If anything, that loss to Oliveira made “The Diamond” contemplate hard about his future plans. In a December interview, Poirier said he “may never fight at 155 pounds again.”
“I don’t know if I wanna go through that kind of training camp again, where I’m hungry every day and competing in the gym and pushing myself on low calories,” he said. “We’ll see. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
If there’s any other person in authority to speak about Poirier’s career, it would be one of his longtime coaches at the American Top Team, Mike Brown. The former WEC champion recently spoke to MMA Fighting where he shared his opinion on Poirier’s possible move to 170 pounds.
“He’s plenty big for welterweight. Plenty big,” Brown said. “155 [pounds] is getting real difficult to make. I’m not certain. He could be a better welterweight than a lightweight.
“Time will tell, but he’s definitely not small for a welterweight.”
If Poirier does make the jump, another possible option would be a fight against former teammate Colby Covington, who’s been calling for his shot for a while now. Poirier, however, is leaning more towards the idea of a Diaz fight.