Dustin Poirier names Nurmagomedov, McGregor and Ferguson as possibilities for next fight

On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC on Fox 30 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, surging lightweight contender Dustin Poirier and former champion Eddie Alvarez stepped into the cage for an anticipated bloodletting. The bout marked a do-over of an action-packed 2017 contest that unfortunately ended as a no-contest when Alvarez landed an illegal knee.

Though Alvarez certainly had his moments in the fight, Poirier ultimately emerged the victory with a huge, second-round TKO, asserting himself as one of the lightweight division’s top contenders in the process.

From here, Poirier feels only a few fight makes sense. The most likely option would seem to be a title shot opposite UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. That said, the surging contender is also interested in a rematch with MMA megastar Conor McGregor, who he lost to several years ago in the featherweight division.

“They’re both tough fights,” Poirier said on the UFC Calgary post-fight show (via MMAjunkie). “Very different fights. If I get a cut of pay-per-view, I want to fight Conor.”

The priority for Poirier, however, is the world title — not vengeance — which would seem to imply Nurmagomedov is his preferred option.

“Every loss hurts, and I’m sure it feels great to get them back,” Poirier said. “But like I said before, I’m not chasing grudge matches. I’m chasing gold.”

While Nurmagomedov and McGregor seem to be Poirier’s top choices, he said he could also be convinced to fight oft-injured former interim champion Tony Ferguson if neither Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor is available.

“If [UFC President] Dana [White] calls me, and we make a deal for the fight, maybe,” Poirier said during the post-fight press conference. “I don’t know. I’m the best in the world, man. I could beat all these guys.”

Who do you want to see Dustin Poirier fight next?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/29/2018.