Dustin Poirier Offered to Face Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223

When opportunity knocks, Dustin Poirier is always ready to answer.

This past week amidst the chaos surrounding the UFC 223 main event after former interim champion Tony Ferguson suffered an injury that forced him out of his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Poirier was ready to try and save the day.

As he was just two weeks out from his own main event fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC on FOX 29, Poirier quickly made a call to UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby to throw his name into the hat to face Nurmagomedov with the lightweight belt on the line.

“I did. I text [Dana], I text Sean, let them know I could make weight and I was ready to fly out,” Poirier revealed when speaking to “UFC Tonight”. “I’m already on the east coast, it’s a short flight for me. I wasn’t really banking on it cause I was so close to this fight and camp was almost done. So I just threw it out there.”

While Poirier was more than ready to face Nurmagomedov on short notice, the UFC will rarely scrap one main event for the sake of saving another headline fight so his offer was not accepted.

Still, Poirier was definitely vying for that opportunity just like he hopes to do again with a win over Gaethje on Saturday night.

“I think they needed a big fight on FOX this weekend and they know the fans were excited about this matchup,” Poirier said about his fight with Gaethje. “If I would have been at home [without a fight scheduled], I would have got the call as well, I know it. They need this fight.”