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Islam Makhachev solidified his spot as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the UFC when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the firts round at UFC 294.
But it turns out the fight almost never happened.
Volkanovski, the reigning UFC featherweight champion, stepped in on short notice to fight Makhachev for the lightweight belt after Charles Oliveira pulled out due to injury.
But former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier now claims that he, not Volkanovski, was supposed to square off with Makhachev.
“So I get back to my condo, I’m unpacking my bags and my phone rings. I see it’s (UFC Chief Business Officer) Hunter (Campbell)…I answer the phone, let’s go. I said, ‘What perfect timing. This is how life works,'” Poirier told MMA Fighting. “I just landed in Florida. My whole team is here, my coaches are in town, this happened for a reason. He asked me my weight, and I [told him I] can make the weight in 11 days, no problem. I thought that was it. He told me [to] give him one day.
“So the next day I didn’t hear back. I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, I said, yes, let’s go I got my team here, let’s book these flights. I need to get out there ASAP.’ Then he kept quiet for a while, and then all the news started breaking. But he didn’t tell me, ‘Hey, you’re the guy.’ He asked me if I would do it. I said yes, he told me to give him one day, and I guess he was waiting on Alexander to commit.”
Poirier last fought at UFC 291 in July when he lost to Justin Gaethje via second-round TKO. Gaethje now says that he plans to wait until he’s given a title fight with Makhachev before stepping back into the cage.
As for Poirier, he’s left to ponder what comes next as he looks to get back into the win column