Diaz is the only matchup desired enough for Dustin
Poirier to come out of retirement.
A matchup between Poirier and Diaz is one of the most anticipated
bouts that never came to fruition. However, Poirier is still
willing to come out of retirement to fight Diaz.
Poirier and Diaz were scheduled to fight at UFC
230 in 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight
fell through as Poirier was allegedly forced out due to a hip
injury. However, Poirier claims the narrative was slightly
manipulated. According to “The Diamond,” he was willing to fight
Diaz, who was having negotiation issues with the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. Poirier claims the UFC offered
him alternative opponents for UFC 230. However, Poirier only wanted
to fight Diaz, or have a hip surgery instead of fighting anyone
else. Poirier claims Diaz manipulated the narrative and blamed him
for the fight falling through.
“I still wanna whip Nate’s a**… I’ll come back to fight him… The
UFC knew I was going to fight Nate in our first matchup in Madison
Square Garden,” Poirier said on UFC on Paramount. “Nate was having
trouble with his negotiation. I don’t know what was going on. But
UFC called me and said, ‘Hey, we want to keep you on the MSG card,
would you fight so and so?’ They started to offer me other people.
I said listen, ‘If it’s not Nate, I’m not fighting. I’m going to
have my hip taken care of. If it’s Nate, I’ll fight.’… And then
Nate used that — like I was the fall guy, like the fight’s off
because I pulled out. But I never pulled out. I just didn’t want to
fight anybody else but Nate.”
Diaz (21-13) retired from the UFC with a submission win over
Tony
Ferguson in 2022. Diaz has since lost a boxing match against
Jake
Paul and won another against Jorge
Masvidal. Diaz is now scheduled to fight Mike Perry
on an MVP MMA card on May 16 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Poirier (30-10) hung up his gloves following a decision
loss against Max
Holloway last year. Poirier has made no secret of the fact that
he misses fighting.
Dustin
Poirier said he would be willing to come out of retirement to
fight Nate
Diaz 👀“I still want to whip Nate’s ass… I’ll come back to fight him.”
pic.twitter.com/1E0QBjHlxk— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
May 4, 2026