Although Dustin Poirier said publicly that he’d fight Colby Covington, the latter claimed that the UFC offered them the match and “The Diamond” declined.
Covington and Poirier are former training partners at American Top Team (ATT) in Florida, but “Chaos” parted ways with the renowned team after engaging in spats with a bevy of ATT fighters, including Poirier.
Covington has taken several shots at The Diamond throughout the years, even bringing Poirier’s family into their feud. So, even though Poirier competes at 155 pounds and has never ventured north of the division to welterweight, he went on MMA Fighting’s “The MMA Hour” in May 2022 and declared he would meet his bitter rivalry in the cage at 170 pounds.
The fight never came to fruition, however, and Poirier went on to fight Michael Chandler at 155 pounds in November. Covington, who will fight Leon Edwards for the welterweight title next per UFC president Dana White, spoke with James Lynch recently and accused Poirier of being too “afraid” to fight him.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Covington said about the promotion offering him and Poirier an opportunity to compete. “Dustin’s afraid. He talked all that s***, ‘I’m going to come up to 170. I want to fight Colby, I’m going to do this. He said on Twitter, ‘It’s on sight.’ All these things, even went on Twitter and said, ‘I accept.’
“Dude, he never accepted. The UFC gave him the fight, the biggest money fight that he was going to get besides obviously Conor [McGregor]. And he fumbled it. He was afraid. He’s scared, he doesn’t want to step into the Octagon because he knows he’s going to get melted by raw American steel. It is what it is. At least I exposed him. The biggest thing is, I just wanted to expose Dustin because he walks around like he’s a gangster, he’ll fight anybody, this and that. I just wanted to expose him for the (expletive) that he is. And that he doesn’t really take every fight. The guy picks and chooses his fights.”
Covington Called Poirier an ‘Ultimate Feelings Champion’
Chaos also said Poirier was the reason he no longer trained at ATT.
“Dustin Sorrier, that was the fight that the fans wanted to see,” Covington said. “It’s a big fight. There’s a reason I left my old gym, it’s because Dustin. He was crying to the owner, ‘Wah, wah, Colby – kick him out. He’s said some mean things. I’m an ‘Ultimate Feelings Champion. Kick him out.’ He’s not an Ultimate Fighting Champion like me.
“It’s sad because I was going to pound out Dustin worse than Conor pounds out Dustin’s wife.”
Poirier Wanted to Fight Covington to Avoid a Long Hiatus From the UFC
During his interview with Ariel Helwani back in May, Poirier said, “I don’t hate anyone, but if there was a line right before hate, Colby’s standing right there. I really dislike the guy, and I’ve been saying I don’t want him to make a dollar off of fighting me, but they offered me him last week… It was either wait to the end of the year and fight for a No. 1 contender at lightweight, or fight in July, and that was the name that they gave me. So I was like, ‘F*** it.'”
Poirier reiterated that he didn’t “want to fight the guy,” but he would choose that route instead of having to continue sitting on the shelf for another “10-11 months.”
After The Diamond’s interview, not much was said about the potential matchup. Covington was radio silent about his fighting future from May 2022 until this past weekend, and as mentioned, Poirier eventually fought and defeated Michael Chandler at UFC 281.
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Rival Says Dustin Poirier Declined Grudge Match: ‘Dustin Is Afraid’