Dustin Poirier has now added Colby Covington to the list of opponents he is open to standing across the octagon from on July 30.
Back in March, Covington defeated former teammate turned bitter rival, Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal, in a dominant unanimous decision outing. Following the win, Covington called for a fight against Poirier, another former American Top Team teammate. ‘Chaos’ stated the following:
“I just took care of Miami street trash, now it’s time to take care of Louisiana swamp trash. Where you at Dustin Poirier, you C***. You said it’s on sight. Name the site, Dustin. Bring that jezebel of a wife and bring that little kid that’s Connor’s kid and I’ll see you soon. You’re Next.”
Poirier quickly shut the idea down, stating he didn’t want Covington to profit off of his name. He also added that if he were to fight Covington, it wouldn’t be in the UFC octagon and that it wouldn’t be for money.
Poirier’s last fight was a loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 in December. Since then, ‘El Diamante’ has been adamant in his campaign for a bout with Nate Diaz, but has surprisingly not seen anything come to fruition despite his persistent claims.
Dustin Poirier explains his callout of Colby Covington
On Friday, Poirier took to social media, stating that he was targeting a fight for July 30 in Dallas, TX. He then tweeted at Covington, implying he wanted to fight him on that day. It was a swift turnaround for Poirier, who, speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, explained his change in mind.
“I don’t hate anyone, but if there was a line right before hate, Colby’s standing right there. I really dislike the guy and I’ve been saying I don’t want him to make a dollar off of fighting me, but they offered me him last week…it was either wait to the end of the year and fight for a No. 1 contender at Lightweight, or fight in July, and that was the name they gave me. So I was like, F*** it.”
A fight with Covington may not be his first choice, but it certainly is still a big fight for Poirier. It’s a chance to establish himself in the elite of a second-weight division and to face an opponent with whom he has a lot of history.
“He’s everything I dislike about mixed martial arts. He’s a cartoon character. Everything he does is for an extra click, view, none of it’s authentic.”
Who do you think would win between Dustin Poirier and Colby Covington?