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Nick had a laundry list of opponents he wanted from GSP to Michael ‘Venom’ Page to Colby Covington at UF C300. In the end he had to settle on Vicente Luque in Abu Dhabi.

Earlier this week, the UFC shocked the world by announcing the return of Nick Diaz for a fight in Abu Dhabi against Vicente Luque.

Diaz hasn’t been seen since a rough TKO via quitting against Robbie Lawler in 2021. Before that he’d been gone since 2015, unless you were a part of the California clubbing scene in which case you might have seen him out with the homies quite a bit.

So how the heck did Diaz end up in a five round co-main event against Luque in Abu Dhabi this August? The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani detailed how the fight came together.

“Nick was initially pushing for a GSP fight. Didn’t come to fruition,” Helwani reported. “He was then pushing for a Colby Covington fight at UFC 300. Didn’t come to fruition. He then, after [Michael “Venom” Page’s] win and debut at 299, pushed for that fight on the June 29th Conor McGregor card, UFC 303. Didn’t come to fruition. He then pushed for Kevin Holland on the June 29th card. Thought that that was going to be the one, but as you know, it didn’t come to fruition.”

“He wants to fight. He’s ready to go. He’s in Houston training,” Ariel continued. “He has gotten rid of all the baggage. He’s gotten rid of all the partying, all that stuff. I’m told he’s in a great mental, physical, spiritual space right now, and they say, ‘What about Luque in Abu Dhabi?’ Initially, he didn’t wanna go overseas. But I’m told the people in Abu Dhabi want Nick Diaz.”

We’re not surprised the Abu Dhabi guys are old school MMA heads who appreciate an O.G. badass like Nick Diaz. The UAE invested $ 150 million in the UFC back in 2009 before the sport was cool, right around when Nick was at his peak.

So which Nick are we going to see in Abu Dhabi 14 years later? Helwani said Diaz looks good right now, but he looked good in training pics before the Lawler fight too, and the Stockton fighter needed the bout moved up a weight class last minute for that one.

“I had heard that he was on a path to being in a really good spot for the Robbie Lawler fight,” Helwani said. “And then some old faces popped up at the 11th hour and got him off that path. This is what I’m being told, and this is why he showed up the way he showed up for that fight. This is what people are saying.”

“If Nick Diaz is in good shape, if he’s in a good spot mentally, physically, if he looks the way he looks in those pictures and videos? Because we saw that leading up to the Lawler fight, and then he showed up looking completely different. If that’s truly what he’s doing and he’s around the right people, I think he can win this. I really do.”

“He hasn’t taken a ton of damage over the last few years,” Helwani concluded. “It’s just a matter of where he’s at, who’s around him, and what the distractions are.”

Those are pretty big matters, considering how his last fight (and the last nine years of his life) went.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

For a few brief moments, Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier transformed from respected opponents to heated rivals after a pre-fight faceoff turned volatile.

As they stared each other down, Makhachev and Poirier started exchanging words, which isn’t all that unusual. But Makhachev’s demeanor changed rather quickly as he began jawing back at Poirier in a manner that suggested this wasn’t some friendly banter.

When the audio from the confrontation was finally made available, Poirier could be heard saying “go to sleep, motherf*cker” as he predicted a knockout in the fight. That didn’t sit well with Makhachev, who fired back with “don’t say motherf*cker to me.”

Security eventually intervened to separate the fighters but it turns out it was Poirier’s particular choice of words that got under Makhachev’s skin, even if that’s not what the former interim champion was trying to accomplish.

“Honestly, I think it was a misunderstanding,” Makhachev’s longtime manager Ali Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting after the press conference. “He said something — everybody comes from different cultures and he said something accepted in American culture, it’s OK to drop the MF word. But with Muslim guys or Russian guys, you can’t say the MF word. Because this is almost talking about his mother. We know in America you can say the MF word and it’s OK, it’s whatever.

“I personally don’t like to call people that. I don’t like nobody to call me that but in America, it’s OK. People say it to each other. I don’t think it’s good but I don’t think Dustin Poirier meant it, and Islam had to be like ‘hey, don’t talk to me this way.’ I think that’s how things got mixed up a little bit but I don’t think Dustin meant it in a malicious way. But he pissed Islam off and Islam wasn’t happy about it but I think he’s good.”

As much as Poirier’s tone and language may have bothered Makhachev in that moment, Abdelaziz promises there’s no lingering bad blood left over from the exchange.

“Dustin Poirier’s a good guy,” Abdelaziz said. “Khabib [auctioned] his shirt for $ 150,000 to donate to his charity. If Dustin Poirier was not a good guy, Khabib would not [auction] his shirt, donate to his charity when they fought. Dustin Poirier’s a good guy, he’s a good father, a good man.

“We respect him, but he’s the enemy right now, in a competition way. I don’t think you can [show] two people who can say Dustin Poirier’s not a good guy.”

Good guy or not, Abdelaziz promises that the result is going to be the same once Makhachev sets foot in the octagon against Poirier on Saturday night at UFC 303.

Makhachev is an overwhelming favorite to win the fight as he’s continued to steamroll his competition in the lightweight division.

In this situation, Poirier got his title shot largely thanks to his career resume and good timing rather than actually earning his spot as the No. 1 contender. While Poirier looked impressive with his finish over top prospect Benoit Saint Denis back in March, that performance just put him back in the win column for the first time after he suffered a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje back in 2023.

But with Arman Tsarukyan unable to compete so soon after beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 300, Poirier was offered the opportunity to fight for the title in June.

Given all those circumstances, Abdelaziz knows that Makhachev can’t just eke out a win against Poirier on Saturday.

“Listen, he has to go out there and try to run through Dustin Poirier,” Abdelaziz said. “This is the plan. I respect Dustin but I think at this point in Islam’s career, this is what he needs to do. The only way Dustin Poirier can beat him — a lucky punch. That’s it. If he catches him. But I’m talking about fighting, pole to pole, I think Islam will wipe the floor with everybody out there right now. This is what I think.

“He can’t just go out there and beat Dustin Poirier, just to be clear. He has to go there and he has to make Dustin Poirier [look] like he doesn’t belong in there. This is what Islam has to do for his star power to keep going up.”

As much as the faceoff on Thursday looked like maybe Makhachev was getting drawn into an emotional battle with Poirier, Abdelaziz is confident that’s not the case.

When it comes time to fight, Makhachev has ice running through his veins just like his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov did once upon a time when he engaged in much uglier encounter against Conor McGregor. In the end, Nurmagomedov dispatched McGregor inside four rounds and Abdelaziz expects Makhachev to do the same to Poirier.

“Islam Makhachev is as advertised. He’s a cold-blooded killer,” Abdelaziz said. “He’s so talented. He’s a hard worker. He has no flaws but I think at the end of the day, out of all the contenders, [Charles] Oliveira is very dangerous — you saw what Islam did to him. [Justin] Gaethje, of course is dangerous, and Dustin Poirier is dangerous, too. He’s fighting one of the most dangerous guys in the division. He’s not taking Dustin Poirier lightly.

“We know Dustin Poirier’s a legend. We know Dustin Poirier, if you leave an opening for him what he can do. I’m telling you, he’s taking him seriously. He’s going in there with very bad intentions to really hurt Dustin Poirier. Not in a bad way, in an athletic way. He wants to go in there and finish him and show why he’s the best in the world.”

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There’s likely nothing in the contract for Dustin Poirier’s UFC 302 fight that explicitly states it will be his last-ever chance at a world championship. However, the fact that Saturday will be his final chance to become the division’s top name when he faces Islam Makhachev has felt like an unwritten rule ever since their matchup was revealed.

In what will be his 31st UFC appearance, 35-year-old Dustin Poirier will be trying to become undisputed champ for a third time. When given those numbers, it’s hard to wonder how much is left in his career.

At least, Poirier is having those thoughts. In the lead-up to his fight this weekend, he told CBS Sports that he’s seriously considering calling it quits soon: “I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s a very selfish sport. I’m ready to be a father and be a husband and be home and be into a routine. I wouldn’t say I can’t do it again. I can do it again. It’s just … this is it for me.”

His recent comments made it clearer than ever that this weekend is Dustin Poirier’s final chance at the lightweight title. Even if there was a world where he could find a fourth pathway to a title, he doesn’t want to walk that route.

Now knowing what Poirier feels on the inside, we’re set up for a dramatic storyline this weekend. It’s no longer an open secret that it’s his last chance, we know it is. Saturday is truly a do or die situation for Poirier to prove that he’s one of the best. But amid all of the hype and drama that will emerge this weekend, it’s important to remember that win or lose, Poirier has already proven enough to be considered a legendary fighter.

Dustin poirier’s Longevity At The Top

When looking at Poirier’s career, it feels like an undisputed championship run is the one thing he hasn’t truly tackled. Other than the elusive undisputed champ status, Poirier has stacked his career full of big moments.

While there isn’t any gold to put to his name (unless you count a brief interim title run), Dustin Poirier has easily been one of the most dominant forces in the lightweight division for a decade. While many top names have come and gone, Poirier has not only stayed active but remained among the best.

Dustin Poirier was just 21 years old when he joined the UFC roster. The Louisiana-born and raised fighter very much grew up in the cage, with his amateur days dating back to when he had just turned 18. Before even hitting what you could consider the prime of his career, Poirier had made a living fighting at featherweight, a division rarely associated with him nowadays. Those who only started following the sport in the mid-2010s amid the popularity of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey—myself included—likely wouldn’t have any recollection of this time in his career.

While he had high-profile fights, like a 2012 main event loss to The Korean Zombie, a main event fight the next year against Cub Swanson and a meeting across McGregor in 2014, Dustin Poirier didn’t ever fight for a title in the division and wasn’t making headlines in the ways that more stand-out talents were at that time.

Following his loss to McGregor in 2014, a finish loss that lasted just under two minutes, he made the move up to lightweight. He had already fought 11 times in the promotion by this point, or four years in total. According to internal calculations made by the UFC around this time, this would have made him surpass and nearly double the average length of a career in the promotion, which they had pinned at 2.46 years overall from 1993 to 2014.

Chasing Greatness At Lightweight

After his UFC run had already out-lived many of his peers, Poirier was actually just getting started. Lightweight ended up being the division where he put together his best performances and most high-profile wins, getting him near the title picture on numerous instances.

Things got off to a strong start when he took just one loss through 11 appearances in the division. After main event finish wins over Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje (a past undisputed and interim champ respectively), he was given a shot to face featherweight champ Max Holloway for an interim lightweight title.

Poirier went five rounds against the striking aficionado to capture the belt and win via unanimous decision. Poirier beat Holloway where he is at his best, getting a jump on the talented knockdown artist in the early rounds with clean combinations. Holloway unsurprisingly made the fight close, but not narrow enough for many to consider him victorious.

Holloway had built up an untouchable image heading into that fight, putting together 14 consecutive wins that grew in importance. After stopping legend Jose Aldo twice, he out-gutted Brian Ortega in a stand-up war to defend his belt once again.

While there will always be ways that people take things away from that fight, notably that Holloway had moved up a weight class and that the bout was actually for an interim title instead of the real deal, it’s still certainly a huge victory arguably the biggest of Dustin Poirier’s career. He took out one of the best while they were at their peak, and did so elegantly.

Over the next few years, Poirier would struggle against the absolute best and style on anyone below that level. He lost fights to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje, three names you could basically define a division’s entire era with. But against a past-prime Conor McGregor or a rising contender like Benoit Saint-Denis, he would put on a show. Dustin Poirier was a main event draw during this time, with his duo of non-title fight appearances against McGregor both headlining pay-per-view cards.

A Perfect Ending Isn’t Necessary

Just to list the absolute cliff notes of Poirier’s career, you need about 500 words. Poirier has accomplished a lot and left a print on the UFC’s history that even some champs likely won’t leave. Knowing the ins and outs of his career begs the question: How much does he even really need that belt?

It’s obvious that Poirier earning the title would be the best ending possible for his career. Dustin Poirier clearly sees earning the title as a way to complete his run as a fighter and show how great he truly is. He has used the phrase “finish the story” recently, a line that WWE’s Cody Rhodes used to illustrate a lengthy career arc that culminated with him sitting atop the world of professional wrestling.

But wrestling has the privilege to actually choose how stories end. WWE decided that Rhodes would get to reach the top of the mountain, but Poirier isn’t afforded the same luxury. Anything could happen at UFC 302, and oddsmakers seem inclined to think that the night will end with Makhachev still possessing the 155-pound division’s gold.

A championship belt is what everyone is after in MMA, but it’s not the singular litmus test for greatness. Many top names, including champs, can’t say that they have had the career longevity of Dustin Poirier. Few can get one title shot, come back from a loss to earn another, and then do it yet again. Dustin Poirier has just one thing left to prove in the sport, which means he’s proven way more than almost all of his colleagues.

Dustin Poirier’s story could have the perfect ending. But even if it doesn’t, he’s told a hell of a story.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

At the UFC 302 official weigh-ins, all 24 fighters on Saturday’s fight card will step on the scale early Friday morning in Newark, N.J. Watch the official weigh-ins above.

In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev puts his belt on the line against Dustin Poirier. Both fighters will have to hit 155 pounds for their title showdown.

In the co-main event, former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland and one-time title challenger Paulo Costa have to step on the scale at 186 pounds or lower for their non-title middleweight showdown.

The UFC 302 official weigh-ins will start at 9 a.m. ET.

The UFC 302 ceremonial weigh-ins will be at 5 p.m. ET above.

Check out UFC 302 weigh-in results below.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier

Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa

Kevin Holland vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk

Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov

Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski

Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov

Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki

Philip Rowe vs. Jake Matthews

Niko Price vs. Alex Morono

Early Preliminary Card (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez

Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards

Mitch Raposo vs. Andre Lima

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean Strickland’s head coach Eric Nicksick has been along for the ride, through the good and the bad, for a long time. For Nicksick, seeing a prized pupil like the former UFC middleweight champion rise to superstar levels has been surreal.

Strickland is preparing to face Paulo Costa in a five-round co-main event at UFC 302, which takes place June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark. It will be Strickland’s first fight since dropping the UFC middleweight strap to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 in January. Since his title win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 this past September, there has been a huge shift in Strickland’s popularity.

While Nicksick was certainly aware of the rise in fandom, it wasn’t until the beginning of 2024 that he realized just how massive Strickland had gotten.

“When we were in Toronto at the [UFC 297] presser, Chris [Curtis] and I were walking and some guy yells, ‘Sean Strickland, tell me what to think!’” Nicksick told MMA Fighting, laughing. “I remember Chris Curtis looks right at me and goes, ‘Oh, God, no. Tell me I didn’t just hear that.’ He’s just got this following now, where this guy goes, ‘Sean, tell me what to think!’ And I just remember seeing Chris Curtis’ face, and Chris is just like, ‘What’s going on? We can’t have this. We cannot have this. Please.’

“I just think that fans just love his realness, man. His fights are exciting, and I think it was the [Adesanya] fight, he won a lot of fans over. But his style is very different than a lot of people. He’s not going to be going in there and knocking dudes’ heads off. He’s more of a Diaz style. He’ll pepper you up and look for the kill shots later on down the line. He’s a volume striker.”

Nicksick recently spoke on The MMA Hour about adjustments he would like to see Strickland make moving forward in his fights, including using his underrated grappling ability. Strickland has made his hay with an outstanding in-your-face, pace-heavy style, which features tremendous defense and an extremely effective jab.

Since those comments, Nicksick had a one-time UFC title challenger stop into the Xtreme Couture gym, and after working with Strickland, they completely agreed with Nicksick’s assessment that if Strickland grappled more in fights, it could lead to huge success.

“Anthony Smith came in and trained with us for like a week, and Anthony was like, ‘Bro, this guy is unreal on the ground. He’s unreal. He was showing me this little thing, and this trick, and I never thought of it this way,” Nicksick explained. “And Anthony left going like, ‘Why doesn’t this guy use this as much?’ And I just looked and turned my head to the wall and just started [banging my head] on the wall. Like, ‘Dude, this is what I deal with.’”

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