Poirier Denies Fleeing From Covington Altercation – ‘You Can't Run Your Mouth'

Dustin Poirier has denied suggestions that he ran away from Colby Covington during an altercation.

Poirier is considering his future following his loss against Islam Makhachev. He gave conflicting accounts over what he would do next. After the Islam loss, Dustin hinted that he could retire. He questioned the viability of fighting if he could not secure a title shot.

He has missed out on winning the lightweight belt three times, with losses to Charles Oliveira, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Islam. Justin Gaethje also knocked out the Diamond at UFC 291, missing the chance to pick up the BMF belt.
However, he did entertain a rematch with Islam. Other targets included Conor McGregor and even a boxing fight with Nate Diaz.

Poirier’s Next Steps

"A boxing match? Of course [that would excite me]. Of course. Just a change of speed, a different training camp, just something different. I’ve been doing MMA for a while, and I still love the training camps and I love fighting.

"But to go to purely boxing, the training camp would be a lot less wearing on the body. No wrestling, no jiu-jitsu, it would be boxing, running, swimming. That would be fun stuff. I would box Nate [Diaz], I would box Nate. Either [MMA or boxing works for me] but I would rather [fight] Nate in boxing," Poirier stated

Covington, meanwhile, lost to Leon Edwards in his last fight at UFC 296. The defeat meant he failed to pick up the welterweight title. In the build-up, Covington taunted Edwards by referring to his father, who had been murdered. He suggested that Edwards’ father would be in hell, and Leon responded by throwing a water bottle at him. Now, Covington had something to say about Poirier. He alleged The Diamond walked away from a verbal confrontation.

Poirier vs. Covington

"I crossed paths with him about three months ago at NYY Steakhouse in Coconut Creek casino. I looked at him eye-to-eye and I said, ‘What’s up…It’s on-site? Say something. Do something,’ and he just walked out of the restaurant because he knows (what would happen).

“You can talk big to the media, you can talk big in front of a camera, but when you’re in front of someone’s face and you feel their energy and you know what they’re capable of, that’s when it’s a different story. Now you can’t run your mouth, now you can’t do anything. If you wanted to do something, he could have done something. I stood up, I looked him right in the eyes and he walked right out of the restaurant like a good little [man]” Convington said

Dustin had a different account of the event altogether.

“The dude is such a liar. I’m not even gonna give him the air time. It’s a lie. We ran into each other, yeah, that’s true. The way he said it went down, is completely not true. He wants you to talk about him,” Poirier stated 

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