Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are ready to become participants in the “Fight of the Century”

“I think that’s the obvious answer,” Gaethje told MMA Fighting. “He is number two and he has no opponent, just like me. I think this fight should definitely be a Candidates fight. The winner of the Oliveira-Darios fight will be fighting for the title in October, so I need to fight Dustin in August, September or October in order to perfectly meet the deadline. ”

“You can’t force someone to fight. I’m not saying he doesn’t want to fight me, but he probably doesn’t need to fight anymore with the money he’s made. So I don’t know. I think he will still accept the fight, although many people in my environment do not believe in this. In any case, all I can do is focus on myself.”

“I think we are both different fighters now. Five years have passed, and this is a different game, but a fight is a fight. In the end, I think he has phenomenal skills, and this is a hell of a challenge for me, which has all the prerequisites to become the “Fight of the Century” ”

Dustin Poirier’s answer was not long in coming.

“Fight of the century!” – wrote “Diamond” in the social network, reacting to the words of the former opponent.

Poirier also expressed disagreement with the fact that in a recent interview Gaethje called himself “the most spectacular fighter of all time.”

“Before Justin Gaethje came to MMA, I was already in Fight of the Year,” Poirier told SiriusXM. “In 2012, I already led events and put on the “Fight of the Year” and I’m not even sure that he fought then. Look, I don’t miss this guy’s fights, but I stopped him in Fight of the Year, so what is he even talking about?

The first duel between the American lightweights took place in April 2018 and ended with Poirier’s victory by technical knockout in the fourth round.

On March 18 at UFC 286 in London, Justin Gaethje returned his career to a successful track, defeating Rafael Fiziev by a majority vote. Thus, Highlight closed an unsuccessful attempt to take away the UFC lightweight championship belt from Charles Oliveira, whom he lost to in May last year by rear naked choke in the first round.

Dustin Poirier last entered the octagon last November, finishing with a rear naked choke in the third round of Michael Chandler. Prior to that, the Diamond lost ahead of schedule to Oliveira, and also finished Conor McGregor twice.

Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje currently sit second and third in the UFC lightweight rankings, respectively.