On May 13th at UFC 211, former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier first faced each other. In just two rounds of action, the fight was declared a No Contest when Alvarez landed knees to the head as Poirier was down on the canvas, a move that is deemed illegal in MMA.
Prior to his fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 218 last weekend, Alvarez told Ariel Helwani during an interview on The MMA Hour that he sincerely thought Poirier quit during their fight. After learning about these statements, Poirier has now made things more personal.
“I don’t like the guy personally,” Poirier told FloCombat. “I used to be a big fan of him. I still respect his fighting style. He’s a dog, he’s a warrior, he’s down but never out in fights. I believe that truly. But I used to really respect the guy and look up to him. Now he’s a piece of s—.”
“The way he’s lied to himself and lied to people and said stuff about me and about the fight. So I don’t have any respect for the guy.”
Right after UFC 218, Poirier began campaigning for a rematch with Alvarez via social media. Now, it is the only fight that he is willing to entertain.
“He’s the highest-ranked guy that’s open right now and it makes sense,” Poirier said. “We have unfinished business and we have to do it.”
“I’m going to go out there and outclass him on the feet and give him another boxing lesson. I’m going to stop his shots and I’m going to beat him up.”
Alvarez won the fight against Gaehtje via third-round knockout, along with the self-proclaimed title of being the “UFC’s most violent man.”