UFC News: Dustin Poirier Says No to $5,000,000 Payday as Doors Closed on Conor McGregor 4th Fight

It is ju͏st a matter of ͏days before we witness the uncrowned͏ prince taking on th͏e reignin͏g ch͏ampion for one last dance. Dustin͏ Poirier will be ͏facing Islam Makhachev for the light title on June 1 at UFC 302.

‘The Diamond’ is looking ͏to snatch the tit͏le from the hands of the Dagestani. However, when asked about a fourth bout with Conor McGregor, the former interim champ ͏outright denied it.

Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor fought thrice in their career and have a record of 2-1 with McGregor on the backfoot. Their last match ended up in Poirier’s victory but it was primarily because McGregor broke his shin. So it would be natural that Poirier wants to finish what McGregor started, right? Wrong. Poirier is not in the mood to even face the former dual-weight champion.

Dustin Poirier disregards a fourth match with Conor McGregor

Dustin Poirier has been with the UFC for a decade now and, with a record of 30 victories and 8 defeats, he may very well be the uncrowned prince of the promotion. Nonetheless, the former interim champ wants only one thing from the promotion right now and that is the ‘155’ lbs gold. And he is not in the mood to even confront Conor McGregor let alone fight him.

Their rivalry runs deep, as they once respected each other, but after their second bout at UFC 257, everything changed. Their relationship turned sour when McGregor started hurling abuses at Poirier and his wife. After that, Poirier seems to have lost every ounce of respect that he held for McGregor. Recently, while having a conversation with ESPN, ‘Diamond’ was asked about his opinion on fighting McGregor again to which he politely declined.

“I think that ship has sailed. All I want is the UFC lightweight championship…I don’t feel the need to fight [Conor] again at all. I don’t need that [bad] energy in my life.” said Dustin Poirier. Well, it’s quite bold for ‘Diamond’ to reject a clash with McGregor again because that second and third fight with ‘Mystic Mac’ made him a multi-millionaire.

If we talk about his payouts then three fights with Conor Mcgregor have made Dustin Poirier more than $5 million. Interestingly, UFC 257 and UFC 264 generated a massive PPV of 1.6 million and 1.8 million. Well, Poirier even admitted that his fight with ‘Mystic Mac’ ascended his popularity, “Maybe knocking out Conor [at UFC 257] was a big deal in growing my star power,” but his aspirations are different now, ‘Diamond’ is focused on only one stuff and that is knocking Islam Makhachev out of the park.

‘Diamond’ is motivated to defeat Islam Makhachev

Islam Makhacehv will be defending his title against a true lightweight for the very first time in his career. The reigning champion in an interview with the media asserted that he would submit Poirier if he ever tried to do a guillotine to him. Well, Makhachev was confident in his approach, however, he was a bit disrespectful of Poirier’s legacy.

Interestingly, when Dustin Poirier was asked what he was planning to do against Makhachev the answer was quite shocking.  The former interim champ stated that he would not submit but knock out Makhachev for the belt. “I’m going to knock Islam Makhachev unconscious, and the ref is going to pull me off of him,”  promised the 35-year-old on Yahoo Sports.

Dustin Poirier has lost his chance of winning the lightweight belt twice in his career but he seems to be planning to overturn it by winning against Islam Makhachev. Nonetheless, what’s your opinion on their clash? State your thoughts in the comments below.