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If Dustin Poirier wants to have some fun before he retires, Usman is ready to welcome him to the UFC welterweight division.
Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev clashed at UFC 302 and the champion choked the challenger in the fifth round to retain his title. Although this is potentially Poirier's last fight, he has not yet confirmed his retirement. In the meantime, a ton of interesting clashes have emerged for 'The Diamond'. Alexander Volkanovski, who twice found himself in the octagon with Makhachev, admitted that he would fight Poirier if he wanted to. Now, former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has also jumped on the bandwagon. After his second loss to Leon Edwards, Usman has rarely talked about winning back welterweight gold and wouldn't mind having a dance with Poirier.
Kamaru Usman v Dustin Poirier
In the June 3 episode of Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry, Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo talked about what's next for Dustin Poirier after his loss to Makhachev at UFC 302. Usman initially agreed that a fight between Volkanovski and Poirier would be fun and went on to say that if 'The Diamond' decides to move up a category, he will also be a good opponent. Usman then clarified that his call to Poirier was not mean, but rather it was motivated by the desire to fight someone he truly respects.
“I always thought about that. If I ever had to face a guy like Dustin Poirier, that would be fantastic, because he's a guy that I could really respect throughout the whole process. Really throughout the process. And we stand out from the crowd. It's like you and your main training partner are saying, yeah, we're going to beat each other. We're going to push ourselves, you know? It would be a fun fight.”
Cejudo wasn't opposed to the idea either, as he believes Poirier has a lot of amazing options despite his loss at UFC 302. Even without a title, fans would undoubtedly love to see Poirier fight Max Holloway, Nate Diaz, Usman and Volkanovski.
What do you think of Usman's words?
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