The much-anticipated lightweight fight between Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz will not be taking place at UFC 230 on Nov. 3 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Poirier is being forced to pull out of the scheduled co-main event of the card after suffering an undisclosed injury.
Poirier (24-5) had been rising up the ranks in a stacked lightweight division as of late, rattling off three consecutive victories with his brawling style, with the most recent win coming in the main event of the UFC on Fox 30 card in July over the legendary Eddie Alvarez via TKO. The victory marked the first time that Alvarez had been stopped in his career. A win over Diaz on this card had the potential to put Poirier next in line for a lightweight title shot.
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Diaz (19-11) was set to make his return to the Octagon for the first time since his UFC 202 loss to Conor McGregor in 2016, but that won't be the case any longer. According to the Los Angeles Times, Diaz is also off the card. UFC president Dana White confirmed the news, simply stating, "Diaz also will not fight on the card."
Over the course of the past few weeks, both Poirier and Diaz had been lobbying for the main event slot on the card for the inaugural 165-pound championship as UFC struggled to put together a main event headliner. They were repeatedly shut down by UFC president Dana White on that idea, and on Tuesday, just hours before this Poirier revelation, we learned that Daniel Cormier will defend his heavyweight championship against Derrick Lewis in the main event.
