Dustin Poirier wishes he got UFC 294 short notice title fight against Islam Makhachev: “It was perfect timing”

Dustin Poirier says he had accepted to fight Islam Makhachev on short notice at UFC 294.

Makhachev was looking to defend his lightweight title for the second time as he was set to rematch Charles Oliveira. However, on less than two weeks’ notice, it was revealed that Oliveira suffered a cut above his eye which kept him from fighting.

Once the UFC learned Oliveira was out of the fight, the promotion called multiple fighters to see if they would take it, including Dustin Poirier. ‘The Diamond’ was coming off a KO loss to Justin Gaethje and he says the timing was perfect for him to take the short-notice fight to get the bad taste out of his mouth.

“I accepted it, my weight has been crazy low these last few months. I’ve stayed on a diet, I wouldn’t say a diet, but I’ve been eating really healthy these last few months, so making the weight wasn’t a problem,” Dustin Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “The thing was the UFC called me the day I landed in South Florida. I was just checking on my condo there, doing some training with my team there because I hadn’t been there since the fight. They called me the day I flew in, and I was like hey, perfect, let’s go…

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“I thought it was perfect timing, I just planned the trip to Florida, a few hours after I got to my condo from the airport, I got a call and I knew my team was there,” Poirier continued. “My boxing coach was there, Mike Brown was there and they were going to be there for the next couple of weeks. It was less than two weeks away and my team was all intact and ready to go. I thought it was a good time.”

Although Dustin Poirier said it was perfect timing for the short-notice fight, Alexander Volkanovski ended up getting the scrap against Islam Makhachev.

With Poirier not taking the short notice fight, he says he’s still waiting for an opponent to excite him which will make him return to the Octagon. But, the hope is he will fight at UFC 300 in April.