Dustin Poirier has a message for the UFC’s matchmakers

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Norfolk, VA, lightweight contender Dustin Poirier stepped into the cage with former champion Anthony Pettis. After two and a half riveting rounds, Poirier earned the win, forcing an apparently injured Pettis out of the fight with a body triangle.

While this win stands out as one of the best of his career thus far, Poirier doesn’t regard it as career-changing outright.

“I think those terms like ‘star-making’ or ‘career-making’ performances are better used on guys we don’t know about,” Poirier told FloCombat. “I’ve proved myself time and time again in there. In my performance against Pettis, I believe it was more of the same I’ve always shown, but maybe more of it at a higher level. Some of the things I’ve shown flashes of my entire career I was able to put together into one great performance.”

Whether his win over Pettis is his best or not, Poirier wants just one specific fight going forward: a scrap with the winner of Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje’s UFC 218 scrap. Poirier, after all, battled Alvarez to a disappointing no contest back in May, and has been angling for a do-over with the former champ ever since. Now, he says, the UFC shouldn’t even bother calling him with any other offer.

“I’m not asking for it…I’m telling them what I want next and what needs to happen,” Poirier he told FloCombat. “I was jerked around with the Eddie [Alvarez] thing. He was rewarded for cheating and getting out of a fight he was losing. I’ve been living with this in my head for months. I took another fight just to focus on something else, but it’s not forgotten.

“This needs to be made right, but whatever I have to do to become world champion is what matters. I’m not chasing Eddie Alvarez. I’m chasing gold.

“Don’t even call me with anything else.”

Do you think a Dustin Poirier vs. Eddie Alvarez rematch is the fight to make?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 20/11/2017.