Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier is growing ever more impatient with the fact his largely expected UFC 257 rematch with former-foe, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor has yet to be booked – asking promotional leader, Dana White to send out contracts for the fight, and “stop playing games“””.
Poirier and McGregor are widely expected to make their respective Octagon returns at UFC 257 on January 23rd. – with the above-mentioned, White detailing earlier this week how as far as he’s aware, the rematch is a done deal. However, these latest developments suggest the fight hasn’t even been signed yet, with Poirier asking for a sufficient contract.
Lafayette native, Poirier was expected to meet with fellow former interim lightweight champion, Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson at UFC 254 in October, with that tentatively targeted tie failing to ever materialise, with the promotion running into contract disputes with Poirier on that occasion also.
McGregor, who originally invited Poirier to take part in a charity mixed martial arts event in Dublin’s docklands on December 12 – the same night as the organization’s final flagship pay-per-view of the year, then asked for the re-run to take place at either UFC 255 in November or the aforenoted December UFC 256, to no avail.
White had then noted how the UFC had reached out to both Poirier and McGregor, offering them a rematch under their scrutiny, although Poirier’s latest comments suggest the promotion and himself may be some distance apart in regards to contractual matters once again, in a tweet which has since been deleted.
“Me @TheNotoriousMMA (Conor McGregor) is the fight January 23rd. Let’s make it official! @ufc @danawhite send me the right contract. Stop playing games!“
Poirier’s calls for the promotion to send the “right” terms would suggest that their talks have once again hit a standstill, with the American Top Team mainstay revealing a couple of weeks ago that he just wanted to be paid what he was worth.
Back in the win column following a UFC 242 lightweight title unification defeat to Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov in September of last year, Poirier also returned from successful hip surgery to score a barnburner unanimous judging win over Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker at UFC Vegas 4 in June.
For McGregor, the former lightweight and featherweight titleholder last featured at welterweight opposite Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 246 in January, scoring a forty-second knockout win.
While the matchup is yet to be made official, it’s believed the long-awaited re-run of their UFC 178 matchup will take place at 155-pounds, with McGregor confirming his plans to commit to the division in the coming year.