After Dustin Poirier picked up a second straight win over Conor McGregor at UFC 264 (see it again here), it all but guaranteed that “The Diamond” would get the first crack at trying to dethrone current Lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira.
In fact, Oliveira claimed he would be defending his 155-pound title in December. And though he did say he believes he can submit Poirier, he didn’t exactly confirm he’d be defending the title against him, though all signs point to the obvious.
Recently, however, Poirier caused some waves on social media for a simple tweet that read “Nathan?” It’s an obvious dig at Nate Diaz, a man whom Poirier has a history with, though they’ve never actually had the chance to settle it inside the Octagon. Poirier has tried time and again to get the fight re-booked, but if he has a title fight all but secured, why look for it now?
Of course, the tweet could mean nothing or it could mean a lot of things.
It is well known that Poirier passed up the chance to fight for the vacant Lightweight title in favor of taking part in a trilogy fight against “Notorious,” which paid him a lot more than a championship fight against Oliveira would have. So it isn’t too farfetched to believe “Diamond” would pass on another title fight for another big-money extravaganza. And since Diaz is a bonafide needle mover, the cash would surely flow in.
At this point, a title shot is Poirier’s if he wants it — he’s the No. 1 ranked fighter in the division and is on a four fight win streak with two straight wins over the biggest box office star the sport has ever seen. But if he opts to pass on it for the second time to settle his score against Diaz, would it be the best play for him?