Dustin Poirier still wants to cross over to professional boxing but his pitch for a potentially huge fight against Nate Diaz was denied by the UFC.
The former interim lightweight champion announced his retirement from MMA this past July but Poirier wasn’t necessarily done with fighting. He’s long dreamed of competing in a boxing match — the sport he first pursued when he got involved with combat sports — and he thought there might be a perfect opening now that Zuffa Boxing exists.
The new promotion funded by Turki Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia and run by UFC CEO Dana White and WWE president Nick Khan has been building an impressive roster but Poirier says his request to compete there was declined.
“That’s something I would like to do — box,” Poirier told Joe Rogan on his podcast. “I always wanted to have a couple before [I retired] but I’m still under contract, even though I’m retired, I still have a contract with the UFC.
“Trust me, I already pitched it to them. Me and Nate Diaz, Zuffa Boxing, let’s go. 170 [pounds] or 168, super middleweight, let’s do it. They don’t want any crossover. I think Zuffa wants to be taken seriously. They must hate money.”
Poirier was previously scheduled to face Diaz back in 2018 but an injury knocked him out of the fight and it was never rescheduled. Of course that didn’t stop Poirier and Diaz from repeatedly calling each other out and exchanging words through interviews and social media but the matchup was never booked again.
Since then, Diaz has actually crossed over to boxing with a pair of fights against Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal before announcing his return to MMA with a showdown booked against Mike Perry on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card.
That said, Poirier was serious about the boxing match against Diaz but he believes the UFC doesn’t want any of its fighters getting involved with Zuffa Boxing.
“They want to be taken by the boxing world seriously,’” Poirier said. “And I think if you open that door of an MMA guy fighting in Zuffa Boxing, every guy on the roster, every girl on the roster is going to want to do the same. It just becomes a mess, I think.”
Still, Poirier knows there are some really fun fights that could be made for Zuffa Boxing involving fighters under contract with the UFC. More than anything, he just wanted the chance to put on the gloves and test himself in the ring but right now, it doesn’t appear that’s going to happen.
“I think there are some really fun MMA and boxing matchups you could make,” Poirier said. “Thinking about a boxing training camp with no grappling, no wrestling, just run, condition and box? It would be smooth sailing. I would love it. I only have to box. That’s great.
“I would just love to lace them up and box professionally once.”
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