Dustin Poirier would have gladly taken the opportunity to coach against Conor McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter, had the UFC offered it.
Despite already holding convincing back-to-back victories over the Irish superstar, ‘The Diamond’ would relish the opportunity to compete against him once more and “put the nail in the coffin.” As we know by now, the promotion went in a different direction, booking McGregor to make his highly anticipated return against high-octane striker ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler this fall. During his appearance on MMA on SiriusXM, Poirier was asked about a potential fourth meeting with Conor McGregor and whether or not ‘The Notorious’ had any interested in squaring off with him one more time.
“I don’t know,” Poirier admitted. “They definitely didn’t ask me to coach The Ultimate Fighter against him, I’ll tell you that.
“It is what it is. I just beat the guy two times in a row. They want a different matchup maybe or a more winnable fight. I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
"They definitely didn't ask me to coach The Ultimate Fighter against him, I'll tell you that."@DustinPoirier says he would have coached TUF against Conor McGregor had he gotten the call.
MMA Today | @AlanJouban @RJcliffordMMA pic.twitter.com/2F4QLW0che
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) March 30, 2023
Conor McGregor’s last two appearances inside the Octagon came against Dustin Poirier with both resulting in disaster for the Irishman. Meeting in January 2021, ‘The Diamond’ scored a second-round knockout at UFC 257. Six months later, they would complete the trilogy at UFC 264. The bout left a lot to be desired after McGregor tragically suffered a broken leg near the end of the first round. Now fully recovered, ‘The Notorious’ will be featured on the promotion’s long-running reality series this summer before stepping back into the cage later this year against Michael Chandler.
“If they’d have called me to coach against Conor, I would have took it, yeah,” Poirier revealed.
After besting McGregor on two separate occasions, Dustin Poirier received a UFC lightweight title opportunity against then-champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 269. ‘The Diamond’ came up short, suffering a third-round submission loss. He bounced back nearly a year later, scoring a submission victory against Michael Chandler at UFC 281 in November. Poirier is currently awaiting his next assignment.
That could come against another lightweight fan-favorite, Justin Gaethje. Both fighters have expressed interest in running back their 2018 scrap, but the promotion is yet to make an official announcement.
