Initially, Dustin Poirier was set to fight at UFC 299, but then it seemed as if he wasn’t. However, he is indeed still part of the event. Social media was abuzz about “The Diamond” on Thursday afternoon.
Last month, Dana White announced that Poirier would be facing lightweight contender Benoit Saint-Denis on March 9 in Miami, a month before a major event in Las Vegas. Despite the buzz, Poirier took to social media to state, “The battle is over, but we’re still working.”
According to Ariel Helwani, host of the MMA Hour, Poirier mentioned, “There was no contractual agreement before the match was announced and no agreement could be reached.“
It was questioned why the UFC would announce a fight that hadn’t been officially signed. Although this is a common practice within the promotion, it seems to have backfired in this instance.
As the situation unraveled, Dana White criticized the MMA media for clickbait, despite Poirier’s confirmation that the fight was off. He also shared his conversation with Saint-Denis’ team to confirm the fight details.
While it was clear that Saint-Denis had accepted the fight, the motive behind White’s decision to share this specific screenshot remained puzzling.
Dustin Poirier changes position after ‘misunderstanding’ with manager, says fight against Saint-Denis will resume
In a surprising turn of events, Dustin Poirier reversed his stance shortly after announcing the fight’s cancellation.
“Sorry everyone, I jumped the gun and couldn’t get in touch with my manager for a few days,” Poirier wrote. X. “I just talked to him and Hunter. My misunderstanding. The battle is on! See you in Miami on March 9th!
It didn’t take long for observers to realize that Poirier had made a public statement to pressurize the UFC into agreeing to his desired contract.
“Dustin finally got his wish in public,” Helwani announced on social media. “That’s business. Good. It doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t agree until an hour ago – remember he was the one who broke this story – and this is pretty much it. He didn’t agree to it when it was announced a month ago. No one is denying that BSD agreed to it, and his team acknowledges it.”
This entire episode appears to have been a strategic move by Poirier and the promotion, using the MMA media to their advantage.
Well played, Mr. Poirier. Well played.
