Former lightweight interim champion Dustin Poirier has finally found a dance partner for his upcoming return to the UFC cage.
Falling short of unifying the lightweight titles, ‘The Diamond’ from Louisiana most recently suffered a third-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headlining act of UFC 242 last September.
Prior to this defeat, he was on an impressive four-fight winning streak against some of the big names in the competition including Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway.
Due to a hip injury, he needed to sit out for the rest of 2019.
Searching for a next opponent, Poirier recently campaigned for a rematch with Conor McGregor, following the Irish star’s 40-second knockout of Donald Cerrone.
However, the UFC has other plans as it looks to pursue a lightweight title rematch between McGregor and Nurmagomedov.
To this, the American fighter decided to move on from the McGregor rematch and now sets his sights on sharing the cage with ‘The Hangman.’
Changing His Tune
Poirier previously rejected Hooker’s challenge to an MMA fight in New Zealand after the Kiwi’s victory over Al Iaquinta.
“Meet me in New Zealand 2020, and I’m going to end you!” Hooker wrote in a tweet.
Poirier wasn’t interested and told him, “You’re close but not yet buddy keep punching.”
But following Hooker’s split decision win against Paul Felder, Poirier has changed his tune about the match-up, saying he wants to fight him for 25 minutes.
In a recent report by MMA Junkie, it was revealed that the lightweight fighters have agreed to headline UFC San Diego on May 16.
No official announcement has been made yet as the contracts for the fight are yet to be signed.
Poirier currently ranks third in the latest UFC lightweight rankings while Hooker is at fifth spot and a potential title shot could be on the line when they meet in the Octagon this May.
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Bigger Fight
Following his hometown win at UFC Auckland, Hooker said his next goal is to star in another main event fight and earn a crack at the lightweight title.
“I’d become top five in the world and that’s title contention. That’s another main event against a top-five fighter or a title shot,” he said (via News Hub NZ).
“Those are the only two options from there.”
Going 7-1 since returning to 155 pounds in 2017, the 30-year old is pleased with his quick and constant development as a fighter.
“When you go back and see the fighter back then – I was rough, very green, not well rounded at all, but I have constantly developed and developed quickly.”
“From the prelims, up slowly to the main card, pay-per-view in the US, co-main event and now main event… it’s been a slow progression, but it means I’m really comfortable where I am now. It’s not a huge jump.”
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(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Dan Hooker and Dustin Poirier)