Dustin Poirier says rumored UFC 254 fight against Tony Ferguson is not happening: ‘I will not be fighting on Oct. 24’
Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson will not fight on October 24 at UFC 254 after all.
For weeks now, Poirier and Ferguson had been rumored to fight one another on the stacked UFC 254 card that features the lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje. Yet, with the card just a month ago, Poirier revealed to ESPN the fight will not be happening.
“UFC and I didn’t come to terms,” Poirier told ESPN. “I will not be fighting on Oct. 24.”
Just a day ago, ESPN reported that Tony Ferguson had already agreed to the fight but Poirier couldn’t come to terms as he was looking to be compensated fairly.
“I just need to be compensated if they want this fight,” he said. “Simple as that. I’m a prizefighter and the prize needs to be right.”
With the fight no longer happening on UFC 254, Dustin Poirier says he will be leaving American Top Team to return home to Louisiana. With “The Diamond” no longer training when the fight will happen is to be seen. The good news out of this is if the Poirier-Ferguson fight is booked for later this year it should be a five-round fight night main event which many fans wanted. However, it did make sense to have them fight on the card in case one of Nurmagomedov or Gaethje couldn’t make it to fight night.
Dustin Poirier returned to the Octagon in June with a decision win over Dan Hooker. The fight is arguably the fight of the year as it was a back-and-forth striking affair. It was also Poirier’s first fight since he lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the belt last September.
Tony Ferguson, suffered his first loss in eight years when Justin Gaethje beat him by fifth-round TKO at UFC 249. “El Cucuy” was supposed to fight Nurmagomedov in April for the undisputed belt. The event, however, was canceled and he ended up taking on Gaethje in May for the interim title.
