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Dustin Poirier will fight Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 after all.

Just hours after announcing the matchup in March was no longer happening, the former interim lightweight champion suddenly corrected course. Poirier initially explained “we couldn’t come to terms” with the UFC on a contract, but he later dropped another message confirming the fight with Saint Denis is now official – and the whole ordeal was nothing more than a misunderstanding.

“Sorry folks, I jumped the gun,” Poirier wrote. “I couldn’t get a hold of my manager for a few days. I just spoke with him and Hunter [Campbell]. Misunderstanding on my part. Fight is on! See you March 9th Miami!”

Additional people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Thursday, and Poirier is now expected to meet Saint Denis in the co-main event of UFC 299.

It was a wild ride in a very short amount of time after Poirier initially said his fight was off. The UFC often makes fight announcements without bout agreements being issued or signed, but this was one instance where an apparent disconnect came back to bite them. The same situation unfolded on Wednesday when UFC Atlantic City lost its main event after Sean Brady revealed he never officially signed to fight Vicente Luque due to a lingering injury that will prevent him from fighting in March.

Poirier’s initial statement that he didn’t come to terms with the promotion for the fight indicates he never signed a contract to clash with Saint Denis at UFC 299. Whether it was a misunderstanding or a quick fix on the terms that he was seeking, the deal got done in record time.

Now, Poirier will face Saint Denis in the co-main event at UFC 299, which goes down on March 9 in Miami. The event is headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between Sean O’Malley and Chito Vera.

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T-Wood Vents
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UFC

The gun was jumped (yet again).

Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier and red-hot 155-pound contender Benoit Saint-Denis are no longer fighting in the upcoming UFC 299 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, scheduled for Sat., March 9, 2024 at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

Poirier spilled the tea earlier today on his Twitter account.

This marks the second major fight UFC announced — then canceled — over the last few weeks. The UFC Atlantic City headliner between Sean Brady and Vicente Luque was recently scratched and it was later revealed that contracts were never signed.

Saint-Denis (13-1, 1 NC) stumbled in his Octagon debut, losing a decision to Brazilian banger Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at UFC 267. Undaunted, the all-action Parisian rattled off five straight wins including his UFC 295 knockout over lightweight veteran Matt Frevola.

As for Poirier (29-8, 1 NC), he’s looking to rebound from a knockout loss to longtime nemesis Justin Gaethje at UFC 291. “The Diamond” has been a PPV mainstay for the last four years, defeating the likes of Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, among others.

“There was no contractual agreement before the fight was announced and we couldn’t come to terms,” Poirier told Ariel Helwani.

No word yet on what the promotion plans to do with the vacant UFC 299 co-main event.

UFC 299 will be headlined by the bantamweight title fight featuring Sean O’Malley in his first 135-pound title defense (and UFC 252 rematch) against Marlon Vera. Elsewhere on the card, welterweights Gilbert Burns and Jack Della Maddalena hook ‘em up at 170 pounds.

For the latest UFC 299 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dustin Poirier won’t be fighting Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 after all.

On Thursday, the former interim lightweight champion dropped a message on Twitter saying “my fight’s off but still working.” Multiple sources close to Poirier and Saint Denis speaking to MMA Fighting on the condition of anonymity had no idea that the fight was apparently cancelled.

Poirier then offered additional details in a message sent to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani about his fight no longer happening.

“There was no contractual agreement before the fight was announced and we couldn’t come to terms,” Poirier said.

It’s often standard practice for the UFC to announce a fight before bout agreements have been issued and signed. On Wednesday, the UFC Atlantic City card in March lost its main event when Sean Brady revealed that he was still dealing with a lingering injury that wouldn’t allow him to fight Vicente Luque.

The only problem was that Brady never actually signed for the fight in the first place, although it was still announced by the promotion.

The same issue has plagued Poirier in the past after a fight against Tony Ferguson was announced for UFC 254, only for Poirier to ultimately drop out after terms couldn’t be reached on a new contract.

At the time, UFC CEO Dana White claimed that Poirier didn’t want to fight and so the organization was moving on from the matchup.

“Listen, there’s a lot of different ways to turn down a fight,” White said in September 2020. “Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason, he didn’t want to take this fight. Only he knows that.”

Back in 2021, Poirier agreed to terms on a new eight-fight deal to stay with the UFC, which preceded his back-to-back fights with Conor McGregor. Based on the terms of that eight fight contract, Poirier has now competed five times under that deal, which includes a title fight against Charles Oliveira as well as clashes with Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.

Unless Poirier inked another extension since then, he would still have three fights remaining on his old contract, but renegotiating terms for certain matchups is oftentimes standard practice for UFC athletes. Poirier was taking a step down in the rankings to face Saint Denis, who has been ultra-impressive lately with five straight wins, all by knockout or submission, but still doesn’t sit near the top of the lightweight division.

It appears whatever negotiations happened for the fight were never concluded and now Poirier has no plans to face Saint Denis in March at UFC 299.

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Even as a UFC world champion, if Leon Edwards is late to the gym, he has to clean it.

That’s just one of the rules that ‘Rocky’ abides by at his gym, Team Renegade, in Birmingham, England. During a recent appearance on Up Front with Simon Jordan, the reigning welterweight titleholder spoke about the close-knit culture of his gym which has helped him become not only one of the best fighters in the world but a well-rounded and respectful human being.

The basic rules of the gym are if you’re late you clean the mats,” Edwards said. “To this day, if I’m late, even as a world champion, I clean. There’s a culture in our gym and it teaches the younger guys coming up under you respect and that you’re not bigger than the gym. Not bigger that what’s going on here in the gym.

“I feel like some people come to the gym and they’re kind of like… They think it’s all about them more than the gym and the team. We’re all working toward this one goal to be a world champion. One hand washes the other. You have to be disciplined. You have to have manners. I still abide by the rules and that makes me more relatable to the guys in the gym.”

Edwards’ comments come a few months after fellow UFC welterweight Ian Machado Garry was forced out of the gym after it became apparent that Garry was “not adding to the team’s culture”

Garry was quick to blame the expulsion on Edwards, claiming the champ had “insecurities or doubts” about having another ranked contender in the same division inside the gym. Representatives with Team Renegade quickly snapped back, making it clear that Garry’s “nomadic” approach to training was simply not meshing with the culture they’ve worked hard to develop.

Leon Edwards Looks Back on Colby Covington’s Vile Comment About His Deceased Father

Leon Edwards’ last turn inside the Octagon came at UFC 295 in December when he returned to defend his welterweight title against divisional gatekeeper Colby Covington. Despite a long layoff and a mediocre 2-2 record in his last four fights, ‘Chaos’ managed to talk his way into yet another title shot that he ultimately fumbled when it came time to stop talking and start performing.

Ahead of their clash inside T-Mobile Arena, Covington drew the ire of fighters and fans alike after he made a particularly vile crack about Leon Edwards‘ deceased father. The comment nearly sparked a brawl between the two, but cooler heads prevailed and a scuffle was avoided.

Looking back on the incident, ‘Rocky’ realizes that Covington was simply doing what he does to sell fights. But he also believes that there is a very fine line and ‘Chaos’ clearly crossed it in that instance.

“It took a lot for me to calm down, but initially… It’s not really drawing the line, but it just shows what kind of person he is. He’s a scumbag to use that to sell a fight,” Edwards said. “I know he does what he does. He talks sh*t, Donald Trump, and blah, blah, blah. I kind of roll with it, but when he goes that low, I think it just shows what type of human being you are. I don’t believe they should use the death of someone’s parents or anyone to sell fights. There’s nothing in it.

“It took a lot for me to refocus my brain and calm down and believe that he’s doing it just to draw me out so he can go out there and fight his fight.”

Following the altercation, Edwards got some calming words from his coaches and his family which helped him to go into the fight with a clear head rather than emotionally charged.

“The UFC did a great job of keeping us apart so I wasn’t able to see him or get to him before the fight,” Edwards continued. “I talked to my coaches, my mom, and everyone. They were like, calm down. Don’t play into his hands. Don’t go out there emotional and start scrapping with him and playing into his game plan.”

Asked if what Covington said made it more enjoyable to step inside the Octagon with him, Edwards couldn’t deny that the hurtful words from his challenger made it easier and much more desirable to punch him in the face come fight night.

“It makes it easier to fight him. It makes you look forward to hurting him,” he added. “I feel like it definitely helps. Give you more of that [desire] to physically hurt them so it helps as far as competing, but does it help selling the fight? For me, no. I feel like you shouldn’t do it.”

Though no official announcement has been made, Leon Edwards is expected to put his title on the line later this year against No. 2 ranked contender Belal Muhammad.

LowKickMMA.com

Tyron Woodley wants to be Jake Paul’s first mixed martial arts opponent.  The former UFC welterweight champion wants their trilogy bout to be inside the cage.

Woodley fought out his UFC contract in March 2021.  Five months later he was slated to take on YouTube content creator turned professional boxer Jake Paul in Paul’s fourth professional boxing match.  Paul won the fight via split decision.  

When Tommy Fury was forced out of his December 2021 bout with Paul, Woodley got his rematch.  Woodley was knocked out in the sixth round and now wants to have a trilogy bout in MMA.  

“I’m the one that gave Jake credibility.  Don’t get it f**ked up.  Not Ben [Askren], not Nate Robinson, not Anderson [Silva], not Nate [Diaz], not Tommy Fury,” Woodley said on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel.  “I’m the one that had the big press conference with him.  I did the most numbers with him.”

“By him beating me and coming back and knocking me out after we had a close fight which most people thought I won that gave him the credibility that, okay, I guess he’s a real fighter now,” Woodley continued.  

Paul signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) last January but has yet to make his MMA debut.  Woodley has been contacted by the fight promotion but is currently a free agent.  

Related: Is the UFC looking to add weight classes?

“Hopefully that’s what they want to holler at me about, some MMA sh*t,” said Woodley.  “If I’m the one that gave him credibility, I feel like I won the first fight.  I was definitely winning the second fight and at the same time I dropped my hands he throw a million-dollar punch.  If yo rewind the film he never won a round before that.  The whole fight he lost every single round.”

“I feel like, if anybody is going to fight him, you’re making too much money to kind of get catered to and walked up.  You’ve got to jump in the motherf**king fire.  There’s no fire in the PFL like that right now.  There’s a lot of people talent wise but they don’t have the name.  And MMA, now come on over to my world.  Let’s see what it is where I can slam your ass.”  

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After a rare weekend off for the UFC, the promotion returns to the APEX on Saturday for UFC Vegas 85. While there are some solid fights on the card, all eyes still seem to be fixated on the still-building UFC 300 lineup — which is still currently without a main event.

On an all-new edition of Between the Links, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew return for a special fan Q&A edition of the program, where they answer your questions about UFC 300, Saturday’s Fight Night card headlined by Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov, Kayla Harrison’s upcoming UFC debut against Holly Holm at 135, and if her recent comments have made you more confident she’ll make the weight, if the UFC will end up putting Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 300 against Michael Chandler or another fighter, and anything else on your mind in the world of MMA and combat sports.

Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.

If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.

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