Dustin Poirier Not Interested In Title Fight Against Michael Chandler
Following Dustin Poirier’s massive upset victory over the Notorious Conor McGregor, the former lightweight interum champion shared his disinterest in a fight with UFC newcomer Michael Chandler.
During the UFC 257 post-fight press conference Poirier was asked his thoughts on a bout against Chandler to which he expressed he didn’t believe that the newcomer had earned the shot.
“Respect to Chandler great win over a guy,” Poirier said. “But to come in and beat a guy who I just beat and get title shot? dude I’ve been in 27, 28 fights in the UFC trying my best to get my hands on gold, you know he should fight Charles Oliveira or something, I’m going to go sell hot sauce if that’s the case.
Chandler made his debut in the co-main event of UFC 257 in a matchup against the number six ranked Dan Hooker and in this fight, the former Bellator champion was able to get the win via knockout in the very first round.
Charles Oliveira is coming off a dominant decision victory over the former interim champion and top-ranking contender Tony Ferguson late in 2020. During the press conference, Poirier also shared that he thought Oliveira had a better claim to the title shot than Chandler at the moment.
Following this victory UFC President Dana White expressed that a matchup for the title between Poirier and Chandler would make sense if Khabib was to vacate the title, however, at this stage White shared there was no verdict of Khabib’s plans but a return seems unlikely.
Poirier had his first chance at the Unified title when took on Khabib Nurmagomedov and UFC 242, however, this attempt was unsuccessful for Porier and resulted in his being finished by submission in the third round.
With his win over McGregor at UFC 257, Poirier would have appeared to solidify his position as the number one ranked lightweight in the world and secured his spot to fight for the title next.
