Dustin Poirier Hits Back At Dana White Claiming He Didn't Want Tony Ferguson Fight

Make no mistake, Dustin Poirier definitely wants to fight Tony Ferguson, no matter what Dana White says.

The exciting lightweight match up was expected to take place at UFC 254, as the company returns to Fight Island, as the co-main event to Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Justin Gaethje, in a fight to decide the undisputed lightweight champion.

However the fight fell apart last week when the UFC and Poirier couldn't agree terms, even though Ferguson still wants to fight him. In a press conference on Tuesday, UFC president White claimed that he didn't think the Diamond wanted the fight.

White said that the 31-year-old 'didn't want the fight' and had 'negotiated himself' out of it but Poirier immediately hit back on Twitter denying the allegations.

Poirier was the last man to fight Khabib for the lightweight title, when he challenged at UFC 242 last September on Yas Island, which makes White's suggestion he didn't want to fight in Abu Dhabi all the more surprising.

Ferguson was meant to be the Russian's next challenger but the Covid-19 pandemic caused their fight to be postponed and eventually called off, with the champ grounded in his home country.

Gaethje replaced the Eagle at UFC 249 and beat El Cucuy for the interim title, earning him the shot at Gaethje on Fight Island in October.

Poirier being tapped out by Khabib. Image: PA Images

It was also reported that Poirier would have been the man to step in to face Gaethje had anything happened to stop the interim champion facing Khabib.

Ferguson would have acted as replacement if Gaethje had been the one to miss out, for whatever reason, allowing the 36-year-old to finally face the champion, as the pair have been scheduled to meet five times already in the past and missed out every time.

At least Ferguson is still expected to appear on October 25th on Yas Island, a show taking place on European time, so he could still step in, in case of emergency.

Topics: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Fight Island, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, UFC News, MMA News, Tony Ferguson, UFC, MMA, Dana White

Ryan Sidle

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