A hotly anticipated lightweight scrap in New York has been hit by the injury bug, as Dustin Poirier is off the UFC 230 card.
The MMA Gods can be cruel, as they chose to remind fans on Tuesday. Weeks ahead of a hotly anticipated showdown with Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier is off the UFC 230 card. Brett Okamoto of ESPN first reported the news. The fight had been set to serve as the evening’s co-main event. Word of the injury comes just hours after news broke that Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis would move to the top of the card, in place of Sijara Eubanks vs. Valentina Shevchenko (Shevchenko has been added back to UFC 231 against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, apparently, with flyweight gold on the line).
There has been no word yet on whether Diaz (19-11) will remain on the card. However, the volatile Stockton native has been generally irritable in the lead-up to the fight anyway, and was campaigning to have the UFC turn the bout into a five-round title fight at 165lbs. The promotion, of course, does not currently have the weight class.
Poirier (24-5) most recently defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC on FOX 30 in Calgary, Alberta in July. That win saw the 29-year old improve his win streak to three straight. Between Alvarez, former champ Anthony Pettis, and former WSOF champ Justin Gaethje, Poirier was knocking at the door of a title shot in the UFC’s stacked lightweight division.
UFC 230 takes place November 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
