Former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier recently received a callout from a fellow lightweight great.
‘The Diamond’ last fought at UFC 282 in a blood-soaked clash with Michael Chandler. Poirier endured a pressure-heavy assault from Chandler to secure a third-round submission victory via rear-naked choke. Poirier was visibly furious with what he deemed Chandler’s “nasty” tactics in their fight, including fish-hooking.
Former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos, meanwhile, last fought at UFC on ESPN 42 in December 2022. There, he submitted Bryan Barberena in the second round with a neck crank. The fight occurred at welterweight, a division dos Anjos has moved up to on multiple occasions.
‘RDA’ has now made clear who he’d like to clash with next.
“I Like It!!” – Rafael dos Anjos On Facing Dustin Poirier
‘RDA’ recently responded to a tweet suggesting a fight between him and Poirier would be an exciting prospect for this year. The tweet also suggested Poirier could finally move up to 170lbs for it, something ‘The Diamond’ has often expressed interest in doing in the past.
“I like it!! @DustinPoirier do you?” Rafael dos Anjos wrote in response to “Poirier vs. Dos Anjos is a banger. You guys could do it at 170, have it be Dustin’s welterweight debut.”
Poirier is yet to respond to the call out. This is not the first time Poirier has been challenged to a welterweight bout in recent years. Longtime fan favorite Nate Diaz was initially set to face Poirier at lightweight way back at UFC 230. The bout was ultimately cancelled but the two continued to trade barbs on-and-off in the years after. Prior to leaving the UFC last year, both men had mentioned the fight potentially happening in 2022.
Former fellow American Top Team member-turned-bitter enemy Colby Covington also made a crass callout of ‘The Diamond’ last year. Following his grueling decision win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in March, Covington made clear his intention to fight ‘The Diamond’ in a grudge bout.
While his callout and trash talk at Poirier’s expense drew plentiful attention, ‘The Diamond’ has made clear more than once he has no interest in doing business with ‘Chaos’. Interestingly, though, he did seem to briefly retract this stance last year despite his issues with Covington.