Dustin Poirier Shuts Down Norman Parke: I Saved Your Career
There’s been a mixed bag of responses to Dustin Poirier’s decision to turn down a fight with Northern Ireland’s Norman Parke when his original opponent Joe Duffy was forced out of their main event at last Saturday’s (October 24, 2015) UFC Fight Night 76 with a concussion.
Some believed that ‘The Diamond’ should have stepped up and faced an opponent he would be heavily favored over in order to save a card, while others said it simply wasn’t worth the risk of fighting an opponent he hadn’t prepared for and possibly entering into a Rick Story-like scenario when he lost to Charlie Brenneman after Nate Marquardt withdrew from their fight in 2011.
Poirier has taken the criticism on the chin so to say, calmly voicing his feelings about turning down the fight as he attempts to climb the crowded 155-pound ladder. Truth be told a win over Parke, who has lost two out of his last three, wouldn’t do much for his career path, but that hasn’t stopped the TUF: The Smashes winner from taking to Twitter to continually call out Poirier.
The smack talk got started when a perhaps ambitious fan insinuated that Parke would have actually beat Poirier, to which ‘The Diamond’ replied with a laugh, inciting Parke to respond that there was only one way to find out. Check out the still-developing dialog right here:
I think @norman_parke would have beat @DustinPoirier . Anywhere anyone anytime , shouldn’t that be the motto of a ufc fighter? #UFCDublin
— James Viau (@JamesViau) October 26, 2015
@DustinPoirier @JamesViau only 1way to find out.. — STORMIN NORMAN PARKE (@norman_parke) October 26, 2015
Poirier wasn’t having any of it, however, assuring Parke that it was truly in his best interest to nit face him and he was helping him out. Parke quickly fired back that he did, and that he had never turned down a fight in the UFC:
@DustinPoirier @JamesViau why not.. What makes u think that..? Have I ever turned down a fight in the UFC..
— STORMIN NORMAN PARKE (@norman_parke) October 26, 2015
Finally, Poirier capped off the back-and-forth by stating simply that he had ‘saved’ Parke’s career by not fighting him in Ireland:
I saved your career https://t.co/obVVEMsMzk — The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 26, 2015
What is your take on the situation? Did Poirier do the right thing, or should he have taken the fight? And did he truly save Parke’s career?
