It was revealed earlier today that former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler signed a deal with the UFC and his first opponent nearly became former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier.
However, Poirier allegedly turned down the fight against Chandler due to financial discrepancies with the UFC.
Ariel Helwani of ESPN first reported the news via Twitter:
According to sources, UFC offered Dustin Poirier the Michael Chandler fight yesterday but they couldn't come to terms. One issue was the same as before - pay - but also sources say DP wanted to show the same loyalty to Tony Ferguson, who advocated for him both publicly/privately.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 17, 2020
Poirier was reportedly going to be fighting former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 254, but he and the UFC couldn’t agree on the financial terms to put the bout together.
There is no word from Helwani as to whether or not the potential Chandler versus Poirier bout would’ve happened at UFC 254 or a different UFC card.
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