The bout was confirmed for the pay-per-view event at today’s UFC 25th Anniversary Press Conference. Poirier was on hand to discuss the bout at the beginning of the presser, but Diaz was noticeably absent.
However, the Stockton slugger soon appeared to face off with Poirier. Check out their first faceoff for the high-profile match-up here:
Nate Diaz is finally making his return to the Octagon under the UFC banner after a lengthy layoff, and his opponent will not be an easy one as he is set to meet Dustin Poirier in a lightweight showdown at the upcoming UFC 230 pay-per-view event.
The news was broken once the Los Angeles Times reported the matchup on late Thursday night (August 2, 2018). Although the UFC has yet to make the fight official, it’s expected to be revealed at Friday at a press conference in Los Angeles where they will also be announcing other fights that will be coming up in the later part of the year.
As seen in the main event of UFC on FOX 30 event (July 28, 2018) at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada that aired on big FOX, Poirier was able to score a second round stoppage victory over former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, which marked his third straight win inside of the Octagon as he holds victories over Anthony Pettis and Justin Gaethje.
Diaz has not been seen in the Octagon since his rematch with Conor McGregor back at UFC 202 when he suffered a majority decision loss which came five months after Diaz submitted McGregor in their first bout at UFC 196. Since then, Diaz has been biding his time since a third bout has been off the table with McGregor, but now, he’s ready to fight once again.
The UFC 230 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York City with the main card airing on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
The promotion will be announcing more bouts in the coming weeks but for now, here’s the updated card:
Nate Diaz vs. Dustin Poirier David Branch vs. Ronaldo Souza Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero Sultan Aliev vs. Lyman Good
In a shocking late Thursday night announcement, Nate Diaz is reported to be making his Octagon return at UFC 230 in New York City against Louisiana hot lightweight contender Dustin Poirier in what is sure to a barnburner of a throwdown in the Big Apple…
In a shocking late Thursday night announcement, Nate Diaz is reported to be making his Octagon return at UFC 230 in New York City against Louisiana hot lightweight contender Dustin Poirier in what is sure to a barnburner of a throwdown in the Big Apple. MMA News’s Damon Martin confirmed the initial report by the LA […]
It’s not official just yet, but signs are pointing to Conor McGregor finally making his Octagon return in what could be the biggest MMA fight of all-time against lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The path to the anticipated title fight becoming official was cleared substantially last week when McGregor resolved his legal issues for the assault charges gained by throwing a metal dolly through a bus containing Nurmagomedov days prior to April’s UFC 223; the Irish former champ avoided jail time and will serve community service along with a few other minor stipulations.
The rumored match-up is supposedly headed for October’s UFC 229 from Las Vegas, an event that only this week McGregor openly discussed as the frontrunner for his return. Another possible date and location is November 3’s UFC 230 from Madison Square Garden in New York City; it was at that exact venue where McGregor last fought in the UFC by winning the lightweight title from then-champion Eddie Alvarez in 2016.
But no matter where and when McGregor does return, it will be perhaps the most-needed jolt that the UFC has ever begged for, and certainly the most crucial of new owner Endeavor’s tenuous two-year period of running the world’s MMA leader. The UFC hit a new low in terms of ratings with last week’s UFC on FOX 30 from Calgary despite the fact that the main and co-main events featured two jaw-dropping knockouts in fights with serious backstories, an ominous sign for a company that has seen steadily declining ratings since 2017 began.
Pay-per-view sales are hitting new lows as well, with July 7’s packed UFC 226 only bringing in around 400,000 buys despite a historic championship win by Daniel Cormier that made him only the second-ever simultaneous UFC champion other than McGregor. By comparison – and it’s really not one – McGregor brought in three separate pay-per-views that brought over a million buys in 2016 alone. That’s why the UFC is willing to overlook the concerning streak of outside events McGregor has exhibited since making a reported $85 million to box Floyd Mayweather last summer, they need a big star more than ever and he’s their biggest of all-time.
McGregor’s return could push for the record of the biggest UFC PPV buyrate ever, it will remain to be seen if a UFC event can sell that well anymore. If it does, it will show just how vital “The Notorious” is to their success, and at this point, that’s shaky ground to stand on. It was uncertain he would ever return to the UFC last year, and even though it’s looking more likely with each day, how long will they really be able to bank on the Irish superstar? He’s often stated his intentions to get rich and get out with his health, and he’s already beyond rich.
True, his lavish spending would drain almost anyone’s account, so he may need one more blowout fight to refill his reserves a bit. It all depends on if he loses to “The Eagle” as well – if he wins, expect to see him back one or two more times, if he loses, he may retire. Regardless, the UFC can’t count on magical years like 2016 where McGregor blew the roof off the record books with three all-time great PPV cards.
So while he will probably save an otherwise dismal 2018 for Endeavor, the problems that currently plague it right now will still remain. They’ve been discussed over and over again, with the oversaturation of events being pointed to as the main culprit -while it is true to some degree and fans are simply exhausted, the UFC won’t stop putting on event after event if it’s profitable. They have a $4.2 billion loan to pay back and at the end of the day, this is a business – big business.
Another not-always-discussed point that I think is highly relevant was brought up by Marc Raimondi and Shaun Al-Shatti on their live chat on MMA Fighting today, the concern that fighters being forced to wear essentially the same monotone Reebok clothing every time out to the cage is diminishing (or outright negating) their personal connection to the fans. They put it in the terms of wondering if Chuck Liddell would have been as big a star without his trademark blue Iceman shorts, or if Tito Ortiz would have resonated as a heel so much without his own flame-adorned outfits. They said they would have been big stars but not as much and I tend to agree.
This level of personalization was all but ripped from the UFC when the Reebok deal went into effect, and while the uniforms have evolved somewhat over the past two years, they haven’t really gotten to the point where they make one high-profile fighter or another stand out from the crowd. Along those lines, fans are perhaps also growing wise to the UFC’s brutal business practices of paying fighters incredibly low wages compared to other professional sports, and the issue of labeling them ‘independent contractors’ rather than employees while they’re forced to wear one company’s apparel remains, and will until fighters finally unionize – if they ever do.
So in summation, McGregor’s return to the Octagon will save 2018 for the UFC just like his boxing loss to “Money” did for 2017, and that will mask the huge gaping problems they have staring them in the face.
The real question is, how much longer can they count on McGregor to fix the issues they clearly don’t know how to mend without him?
Paulo Costa wants Yoel Romero to miss weight for their potential fight at UFC 230.
Earlier this month the UFC announced that the middleweights will clash at the Madison Square Garden event in November. Shortly after the announcement, however, Romero responded by saying that he has yet to officially agree to the fight.
Costa tells MMA Fighting that he’s confident the Cuban will end up accepting the fight in the end – because Romero doesn’t really have any other options:
”I’ve signed the contract, it’s on for me,” Costa said. “He has his contract already, he’s just needs to get up the courage and sign it. But he will sign it. He doesn’t have anyone else to fight.
”I really liked the fact that they chose Romero. It couldn’t be better. He’s the No. 1 in the rankings. Let’s do this, let’s get closer to the belt. This is the final step to the belt. I was asking for Weidman, but I didn’t really shoot for the moon. I asked for Weidman, but the UFC thought big and gave me Romero instead. It’s way better. I’m happy. It couldn’t be better.
”I’ll get to the fight and impose my aggressive and brutal rhythm, going for the kill,” he continued. “Every strike will be a bomb. I’m confident. I’ll going there for a brutal finish, as always. This is how I see myself winning.”
Costa then talked about Romero’s recent weight struggles at 185 pounds. Romero has missed weight in his last two fights at middleweight, the first coming against Luke Rockhold back in February (which he won via knockout) and the next against Robert Whittaker last month.
The Brazilian said that he doesn’t mind if Romero misses weight in a potential fight against one another. In fact, Costa welcomes the mishap because it means he takes home 30 percent of Romero’s purse:
”The fact that he has trouble make weight cheers me up,” Costa said. “It’s 20 percent more going to my pocket. Everything I want is him to miss weight. Get there heavy and give me my 20 or 30 percent. Thirty is even better. That’s all I want. Yoel Romero, eat a lot and get there heavy, please. I want your 30 percent.”
Costa feels a win against Romero would put him right in line for a middleweight title fight. Should Chris Weidman or Luke Rockhold pick up a big win against one another in their rumored fight in the next few months, Costa is happy to fight the winner of that bout after:
”I think I’ll be a serious title contender after I beat Romero,” Costa said. “I’m sure I’ll be next. If Weidman or Rockhold get a big win, maybe the UFC puts me against the winner, but it doesn’t matter. I would like to do that fight, too. The top 5 only has big names, and fighting any of them is a sign of prestige. I would like to fight them.”
Paulo Costa explains his reasoning for hoping Yoel Romero misses weight at UFC 230. There are plans in place for Costa to go one-on-one with Romero at UFC 230 in November. In fact, it was announced on the UFC’s official Twitter page. Ariel Helwan…
Paulo Costa explains his reasoning for hoping Yoel Romero misses weight at UFC 230. There are plans in place for Costa to go one-on-one with Romero at UFC 230 in November. In fact, it was announced on the UFC’s official Twitter page. Ariel Helwani later reported that the bout agreement hadn’t been signed and that […]
