Dustin Poirier foresees a lightweight title fight versus Donald Cerrone in the not too distant future.
Unless Conor McGregor returns to the cage in the next few months, it’s expected that the winner of the proposed lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier will go on to defend their title against the winner of Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone.
Cerrone has opened as the early betting underdog but, speaking to MMA Junkie in a recent interview Poirier, who recently defeated Max Holloway to win the interim lightweight strap, believes ‘Cowboy’ will pull off the upset against ‘El Cucuy’ at UFC 238.
“With the UFC, you never know, I could be defending against Max Holloway,” Poirier joked (h/t Tom Taylor of BJPenn.com).
“I think Cowboy wins that fight but we’ll see, I’m not even looking that far ahead. I never disrespect that work that needs to be done and I have a lot ahead of me with this Khabib fight.”
As far as his own fight with Khabib goes, ‘The Diamond’ expects to challenge the undefeated Dagestani at the upcoming UFC 242 pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 7.
“Everything is pointing to it happening in Abu Dhabi, September 7, me and Khabib,” Poirier said. “I’m not sure what the holdup is or what’s going on. I have no clue.”
UFC 238, which features Ferguson vs. Cerrone on the main card, is scheduled to take place next month, June 8 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.