Dustin Poirier laments failed fight with UFC rival Nate Diaz: ‘I just don’t see how our paths will cross now’

Dustin Poirier seems to have accepted that a fight against Nate Diaz is unlikely to ever happen.

Poirier and Diaz have gone back-and-forth for years at this point and a fight between the pair once had the potential to be highly entertaining. The pair were once scheduled to face one another at UFC 230, but the fight was eventually cancelled.

Since then the callouts have been relentless from both sides, going at it on social media and media appearance, but still not fighting. While appearing on The MMA Hour, Dustin Poirier discussed a potential Diaz fight but appears to have moved on from it despite the personal history.

“The Nate one’s gonna get away, and I don’t know how many fights I have left — I think six with the UFC,” Poirier said. “He’s moving on to boxing and stuff. I just don’t see how our paths will cross. But I just wanted to fight this guy because I grew up watching him.” (H/T MMA Fighting)

“I would have liked it to happen, but I would really like for the UFC or for Nate to be honest and tell the truth about why that fight fell apart because everybody still thinks I pulled out and all this.”

Poirier would also explain that it was not in fact due to an injury that their previous fight had to be cancelled, instead points the finger at Diaz.

Dustin Poirier talks failed Nate Diaz scrap

“He was playing a bunch of games with the UFC,” Poirier said. “They started off offering me replacement opponents, telling me was off the card. I had a hip problem going on. I let the UFC know. 

“Everyone knew I was gonna fight if it was him. If they use a replacement fighter, I’m out. I’ll fight if it’s him, and I’ll push through this training camp, I’m fine, but I need to get this taken care of. And when they started offering replacement opponents, I was like, ‘I’m not fighting these replacement guys.’”

In their primes, who would have won: Nate Diaz or Dustin Poirier?