Dustin Poirier has revealed that he would be willing to get back into the octagon against Nate Diaz after retiring last year.
It hasn’t even been 12 months since Poirier hung up his gloves following a loss to Max Holloway in his home state of Louisiana. But he has already entertained comeback bouts with Justin Gaethje and now long-time rival Diaz.
Poirier and Diaz were due to fight at Madison Square Garden back in 2018, but it fell apart after the pair had faced off at a launch event. Since then, they have remained enemies but have been unable to get a fight booked.
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Dustin Poirier willing to return to the octagon for Nate Diaz showdown
For the best part of a decade, Dustin Poirier vs Nate Diaz has remained a dream fight for fans despite never really seeming like a realistic prospect. And one might have assumed that the former’s retirement or the latter’s decision to fight on Netflix might have officially killed the idea altogether.
However, on a new episode of Paramount’s Deep Waters podcast, Poirier confirmed that he would entertain making a return to action if Diaz became a viable opponent. Jorge Masvidal – who fought the Californian in both boxing and MMA – suggested the matchup and it clearly excited his co-host.
“Man, I still want to whip Nate’s a–,” Poirier noted, before Din Thomas claimed Diaz was ‘the one guy you’d come back for’. “I’d come back to fight him because it got away and he lied and the fans were on his side.
“The UFC knew I was going to fight Nate during our first matchup at Madison Square Garden but 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 Madison Square Garden card, would you fight so-and-so?’
“I said ‘listen, if it’s not Nate I’m not fighting. I’m going to go and have my hip taken care of. If it’s Nate I’ll fight. They offered me Kevin Lee, they offered me a few other names I said ‘I’m going to go have surgery on my hip’.
“Then Nate used that to use me as like the fall guy, fight’s off because I pulled out. But I never pulled out I just didn’t want to fight anyone but Nate. Why not?”
2026-05-04 23:00:00
