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UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev was scheduled to defend the title in a rematch with former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 294, but Oliveira withdrew from the title bout due to injury.
Former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier says he was offered the short notice opportunity by the UFC.
“That’s exactly accurate,” Poirier said in an interview with MMA Fighting while promoting Celsius Essentials. “I think it was 12 days, 11 days before the event [when I got the call]. The thing is, dude, I just landed, I have a condo in South Florida and, the day they called me, I had just landed maybe two-and-half-hours in Florida before the call [because I had] to check on my condo. I stayed there for maybe five days to get some training in with the team there because I haven’t seen them in a while.
“So I get back to my condo, I’m unpacking my bags and my phone rings. I see it’s Hunter, and I’m all jacked up on Celsius. I answer the phone, let’s go. I said, ‘What perfect timing. This is how life works.’ 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.”
Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski would eventually get the late notice opportunity and was finished in the first round by Makhachev.
Poirier has nothing but respect for Volkanovski for accepting the late notice opportunity at UFC 294.
“I thought it was gonna be a lot more of a competitive fight,” Poirier explained. “It sucks, because I’ve been in that position. It sucks to see a guy go out there, but also he wasn’t fully prepared. He was taking a chance to be great, and those things happen, and they can happen [even] when you’re fully prepared. It’s happened to me.
“But to see a guy go out there in front of the world, and not get to actually compete and get into the actual fight, that sucks. But that can happen to anyone. That’s fighting, and that’s why we love it.”
