{"id":282403,"date":"2018-08-07T04:56:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T11:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=282403"},"modified":"2018-08-07T04:56:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T11:56:50","slug":"dustin-poirier-isnt-worried-about-nate-diaz-not-showing-up-at-ufc-230","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/dustin-poirier\/dustin-poirier-isnt-worried-about-nate-diaz-not-showing-up-at-ufc-230\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Poirier isn’t worried about Nate Diaz not showing up at UFC 230"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late last week, it was announced that fan favorite lightweight contender\u00a0Nate Diaz<\/a>\u00a0will make his long-awaited return to the Octagon opposite top contender Dustin Poirier. The pair are expected to collide in the co-main event of UFC 230 on November 3 in New York City.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, the UFC held a massive press conference featuring all the stars of their upcoming shows \u2014 including Diaz and Poirier. The promotion also took this opportunity to announce a highly anticipated lightweight title fight between champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and challenger\u00a0Conor McGregor<\/a>. This news cast a massive shadow over everybody else at the press conference \u2014 including Diaz.<\/p>\n

Diaz, who has been the biggest rival of McGregor\u2019s career, didn\u2019t appreciate this turn of events. The Stockton, California native promptly stormed off the stage and later Tweeted that he would not be fighting Poirier after all.<\/p>\n

All the same, Poirier is not worried. He’s confident Diaz will show up on fight night.<\/p>\n

\u201dI don\u2019t believe the fight\u2019s in jeopardy, no,\u201d Poirier said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (transcript via MMAMania<\/a>). \u201cI would have heard something. I have the bout agreement in my inbox, I\u2019m about to sign it and send it off, so everything is moving forward like it was supposed to after the press conference. I think he was just upset with coming out to a press conference and then them advertising another fight, talking about Conor like he was there, when the guy\u2019s not even present. I think he just felt disrespected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dSo long as he shows up November 3rd, you know? I\u2019m not sure if he\u2019s signed a contract yet, but he\u2019s a guy that follows through. I don\u2019t think him or his brother have ever pulled out of a fight with an injury or not shown up when they said they\u2019d show up. What happens between fights and in the build up of fights is another thing, but when he signs a contract and commits to a date, he\u2019s always shown up.\u201d<\/p>\n