Dustin Poirier is hoping to make his way onto what could end up being the biggest card in UFC history.
Though no official details have been announced, the promotion’s next big milestone event, UFC 300, is expected to go down in April and feature some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts. If things go his way, ‘The Diamond’ will be part of the festivities this spring.
“I think it would be cool,” Poirier said Wednesday on The MMA Hour.” Like I’ve said in all these interviews, I’m probably not going to be fighting at [UFC] 400, I missed 200 — 300 would be awesome to have on the résumé.
“I sat down with the UFC, we talked about it, and they’re kind of on the same page as me. If we can get the right opponent that makes sense for a big fight, then we can do it.”
Finding a big fight for Poirier could be a bit tricky. After all, he is coming off a brutal second-round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 over the summer. And with the UFC thin on available talent at the top of 155, the pickings could be slim for the former interim lightweight champion.
Though he doesn’t have any specific names in mind, there are two qualifying factors his potential opponent must meet.
“A fight that guarantees me a title fight, or a really big fight,” Poirier said. “Something that I’m super excited about doing. That’s all I want.”
Dustin Poirier says he talked with the UFC about fighting on the UFC 300 card. #TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/9CqIAG19E4
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 22, 2023
Dustin Poirier Discusses Potential Move to 170
With Dustin Poirier seemingly at a standstill at 155, there has been discussion of ‘The Diamond’ moving up to 170. But with him already walking around just a couple of pounds over the welterweight limit, he could potentially give up as much as 20 pounds to his opponents come fight night.
“We kind of discussed my weight,” Poirier said, talking about his meeting with the UFC. “I think I was 172 pounds sitting in the office. I’m just too small for 170. People don’t understand the fight game and the weight cutting and how big these guys are. You can’t weigh 172-173 pounds walking around, skip breakfast, weigh in, and then fight the next day at 173 pounds. These guys are going to be 195. People don’t understand. At the top level, you give 20 pounds to somebody, it’s just not good.”
Even with many of the top talent at 155 currently earmarked for matchups, Poirier is confident that the UFC will come up with something in time for him to feature on UFC 300.
“[UFC] were in my corner with the situation,” Poirier said. “If 300 is my goal, if I want to make that happen, we can probably make it happen. But we didn’t have extensive talks into that. They were just like, we can probably do that.”
Watch the full interview below:
