Dustin Poirier not closing the door on potential fight with Tony Ferguson

Former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier is not closing the door on a potential fight with Tony Ferguson.

Poirier and Ferguson were linked to a fight at UFC 254 on October 24 or many weeks. Regrettably, this dynamite lightweight matchup hit a snag this week, when news surfaced that Poirier and the UFC could not come to an agreement on terms for the bout.

“UFC and I didn’t come to terms,” Poirier told ESPN this week. “I will not be fighting on Oct. 24.”

While Poirier will not be fighting Ferguson at UFC 254, however, he is not ruling out a fight with his fellow former interim champ at a later date.

There’s always a chance just not looking like it’s going to happen next month https://t.co/y0TervpS2j

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) September 11, 2020

“There’s always a chance just not looking like it’s going to happen next month,” Poirier said on Twitter, responding to a fan.

It’s not clear how far apart Poirier and the UFC were in terms of negotiations for a Ferguson fight, but as ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani pointed out on Twitter, the lightweight made $150,000 to show and an additional $150,000 to win by when he defeated Dan Hooker by decision earlier this year.

Given that his coach Mike Brown recently suggested Poirier has earned a million-dollar payday, it’s possible there was quite a gulf between what he wanted and what the UFC offered.

“If it were me, it’s a title shot [next for Poirier],” Brown said on The Luke Thomas Show after Poirier defeated Hooker in a 2020 Fight of the Year contender. “In a perfect world if Gaethje wins [against Khabib Nurmagomedov], in a perfect world, that’s what would happen. That would be everything going best-case scenario, but whoever he fights, he deserves a raise and deserves a lot of money for what he’s doing. Every time it’s craziness. Every fight is wild. There’s never a boring minute. I think he deserves a million-dollar payday.”

Do you think we’ll see Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson fight this year?