Dustin Poirier understands why he wasn’t chosen to replace Khabib Nurmagomedov against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. When news surfaced that Nurmagomedov was unable to defend his lightweight title against Ferguson in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Poirier, the former interim champion, was among those to throw his name in the hat to take the fight. Ultimately, the promotion decided to go with Justin Gaethje , who now meets Ferguson for the interim 155-pound belt on the April 18 card, which will reportedly go down at Tachi Palace Casino Resort just outside of Lemoore, Calif. Despite the fact Poirier (25-6 MMA, 17-5 UFC) holds a TKO win over Gaethje (21-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) from less than two years ago, he sees why the UFC went the direction it did. Poirier is coming off a loss to Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in September, and if he beat Ferguson, the UFC would be positioned to run an immediate rematch with Khabib. “I think that’s exactly what it was,” Poirier told MMA Junkie on Wednesday.
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