Poirier Turns Down Covington’s ‘Cute’ Fight Callout

There’s absolutely no interest on Dustin Poirier’s side for a fight against former teammate Colby Covington, despite Covington’s endless trash talk.

Dustin Poirier was in the APEX on Saturday night for UFC Vegas 50, cornering fellow Louisiana fighter AJ Fletcher in his decision loss to Matthew Semelsberger. Following the bout, he took a few minutes to speak with roving UFC reporter Heidi Androl about that big news callout from Colby Covington at UFC 272.

Poirier was on vacation in Jamaica when Colby gave his typically tasteless callout of “Diamond,” and didn’t waste much time on a response. “Bombaclot!” he wrote in one tweet. Another since deleted tweet read “Maybez fight a welterweight contender?”

“It’s cute,” Poirier said when asked about the callout by Androl. “It’s all good. It is what it is. People want big fights. That’s a big fight. He wants a big fight. Obviously, he’s not in line for the title fight. He lost twice to the champ so he probably needs a few more wins, but I would think if you want to get back to that strap, you’ve got to fight welterweight contenders.”

When asked what he thought of Covington and his whole ‘thing,’ Poirier largely shrugged the question off, refusing to get into a war of words.

“It’s working for him,” Poirier replied. “He’s got people talking. You’re asking me about him. But it’s just not my style. That’s what I dislike about the sport nowadays.”

As for that other big fight floating around, Poirier confirmed he was still angling to fight Nate Diaz and that a summer return was when he thought a fight was going to happen.

“Yeah, Nate Diaz is a fight I want,” he said. “I’ve been watching him and his brother forever so it’s exciting for me. The matchup would be fun for the fans. That’s more likely than the Colby fight.”

He also revealed that he was still unsure about what weightclass he’d end up at in the future, with both 155 and 170 being options.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, if I’m going to welterweight, if I’m staying at 155, we’ll see … it is what it is,” he said. Later he added “It’s just … I can still make 155, it’s just how I want to spend my days. Like, if I want to be in camp dieting hardcore, or maybe living a little bit more of a fun camp where I can eat and feel like I can heal up and just have fun training, not hating the diet. We’ll see.”

“I’m not making any huge decisions right now. Just kind of playing the options I have.”