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UFC president Dana White has claimed that Dustin Poirier’s Twitter feud with Conor McGregor legitimately put the trilogy fight in jeopardy.
In the lead-up to their UFC 257 rematch that took place in January 2021, Conor McGregor confirmed that he’d be donating $500,000 to The Good Fight Foundation – Dustin Poirier’s charitable organization. However, Poirier recently claimed that McGregor didn’t keep his word and hasn’t donated the money to The Good Fight Foundation.
What followed was an intense war of words between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor on social media, with McGregor going as far as asserting that his UFC 264 trilogy fight with Poirier was off. McGregor teased that he’d be fighting someone else instead at the event. The feud gradually simmered down, and the trilogy fight is expected to go forward as planned at UFC 264.
In response to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter asking whether the fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor was close to falling apart during their recent Twitter feud, Dana White stated:
“Oh, yeah. There was a lot of chances that was gonna fall apart. Yeah.”
“Listen, I saw some conspiracy theorists thinking that that was to help promote the fight. Absolutely none of that was done to help promote the fight. I can assure you of that. But we got it done.”
Dana White was then questioned if he had to de-escalate the situation over the phone. Bronsteter also inquired about what went on behind the scenes. White responded by saying:
“Both guys; I mean, we had to go back and forth. And listen, man, we’ve been doing this for 20 years. This is what we do. This is what we do – We get it done.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
Dana White notably shut down conspiracy theories whereby some fans are claiming that the Twitter feud was a publicity stunt to promote the fight.
The winner of Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 3 could be next in line for a shot at UFC gold
The vacant UFC lightweight title will be on the line when Charles Oliveira fights Michael Chandler at UFC 262 (May 15th, 2021).
On that note, the winner of the UFC 264 (July 10th, 2021) trilogy fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor is expected to receive a title shot. The Poirier-McGregor winner is likely to fight the Oliveira-Chandler winner for the UFC lightweight title later this year.
Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor are 1-1 in their series of fights, with their trilogy fight set to decide who finishes the series as the victor.
