{"id":29565,"date":"2021-02-02T00:14:32","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T01:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29565"},"modified":"2021-02-02T02:27:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T02:27:34","slug":"poirers-ufc-ultimatum-opens-door-for-mcgregor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=29565","title":{"rendered":"Poirer's UFC ultimatum opens door for McGregor"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC president Dana White faces a huge dilemma in the lightweight division as Conor McGregor's conqueror Dustin Poirier<\/a>, plays hardball on his next opponent, leaving the UFC boss with some tough decisions going forward.<\/p>\n

Poirier's win over McGregor threw White's hopes of a big money rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov <\/a>into disarray, with Poirier now the man to beat in the division especially with Khabib more than likely to stay retired.<\/p>\n

Having beaten McGregor – a two-time champion – along with Dan Hooker and Justin Gaethje, the Louisiana fighter has beaten most of the big names left in the division.<\/p>\n

Poirier will now most likely fight for the title against the Brazilian Charles Oliveira or division newcomer Michael Chandler. However, the lightweight star pushed back on a potential match up with both men.<\/p>\n

\"Poirier<\/p>\n

Chandler knocked out Hooker at UFC 257 in his UFC debut and is a former three-time Bellator lightweight champion. But Poirier, believes Chandler needs to do more to prove himself in the promotion and hasn't been in the UFC long enough to warrant a shot at the title after a win over Hooker — a fighter Poirier has already beaten.<\/p>\n

Poirier went one step further – if the UFC plans a clash with Chandler he'll sit out.<\/p>\n

"Respect to Chandler, great win," Poirier said. "But to come in and beat a guy I just beat and get a title shot, dude, I've been in \u2013 what is this? \u2013 27, 28 fights in the UFC trying everything, fighting the toughest guys to get my hands on gold \u2026 That doesn't really interest me at this point. I'll go and sell hot sauce if that's the case."<\/p>\n

The MMA star believes Oliviera is more justified for a title shot after winning his past eight fights, including a a dominant win over long-time contender Tony Ferguson in his last clash.<\/p>\n

While a fight with the Brazilian would be the right way to go in terms of honouring the fighter's climb to the top of the rankings, he poses a threat to Poirier's standing in the division while not being a massive drawcard in the PPV stakes.<\/p>\n

Poirer admits Oliviera has earned his shot but still isn't sold on fighting either man.<\/p>\n

\"Chandler<\/p>\n

"I want to be the world champion \u2026 and Charles is a guy that's paid his dues," Poirier said. "He's earned where he's at, no doubt about it. Let him and Chandler fight for the belt. If they want Chandler in there for the title, and he's calling for the title, let them fight for the belt. I'll take a step back and just watch."<\/p>\n

While Poirier has taken on all comers in the past, it seems like at this point of his career – a bigger pay day is more of a priority. That's why another match up with McGregor makes sense to both fighters, even though it would be difficult for the UFC to sell the trilogy fight as a title bout with McGregor coming off such a debilitating defeat.<\/p>\n

"You know if Poirier fights McGregor again, there will likely be a UFC championship attached to it, and we both know, as amazing as McGregor's career has been and as popular as he is, he shouldn't be fighting for a UFC title in his next bout," said ESPN's Brett Okamoto said. "I don't even have him ranked inside the top 10 at lightweight right now. He hasn't won a 155-pound fight since 2016."<\/p>\n

While McGregor is seen as the more favourable opponent, Chandler called out Poirier for suggesting he hasn't worked hard for a title in the sport.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Don't use the word 'hasn't earned it' around me," Chandler told Ariel Helwani.<\/p>\n

"Now I just came into your organization, knocked out a guy in 2 1\/2 minutes that you couldn't finish in 25 minutes. I think I cemented myself as a top guy. … I'm not going to use the word 'disrespectful,' even though I just did, but it kind of is. But it doesn't really matter. At this point I've cemented myself inside the top five."<\/p>\n

Oliviera, is also keen on meeting Poirier in the octagon and claims he's the next logical opponent after dominant win over former interim champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 in December.<\/p>\n

"That's the fight that has to happen," Oliveira said through an interpreter . "Dustin has to fight me. There's no other guy in front of him. Look at what I did to Tony Ferguson. Look at what Tony Ferguson did to all of the other fighters before me."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC president Dana White faces a huge dilemma in the lightweight division as Conor McGregor's conqueror Dustin Poirier, plays hardball on his next opponent, leaving […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29565"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29567,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29565\/revisions\/29567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}