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Real Reason Behind Dustin Poirier’s U-Turn After Dana White Flames Reporter, Fans Believe This Is Why Benoit Saint-Denis Fight Is Back On at UFC 299

Published 02/01/2024, 10:30 PM EST

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Did Dana White and Dustin Poirier arrive at a new deal for UFC 299? Amidst a lot of chaos and a lot of confusion, Poirier has finally come forward and admitted that the bout is still happening. Meanwhile, Dana White had to go on an angry rant against a journalist. So what’s all the ruckus about?

The bout was booked earlier by White and the matchmakers. However, soon enough, news about the involved parties either not agreeing to the bout or not knowing about it started flying. It would soon lead ‘The Diamond’ to confirm that his fight wasn’t happening. Now, things have taken a complete 360-degree turn. Here’s more.

Dustin Poirier is still fighting at UFC 299

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Dustin Poirier earlier told ESPN that him and the UFC were not able to come to terms financially after the bout was announced. Hence it was not happening. To clarify further, he would go on to his social media handles to announce that the fight was off.

However, just as quickly as that happens, Dana White ran to control the whole situation. Poirier would soon go back to his social media handles to apologize for the misunderstanding and confirm that the bout was still happening. “Sorry folks, I jumped the gun, I couldn’t get a hold of my manager for a few days. I just spoke with him and Hunter. Misunderstanding on my part. Fight is on! See you March 9th Miami!!” he wrote in an  Instagram post.

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Meanwhile, on the other end of things, Dana White couldn’t handle the misinformation that was being spread by many people. He singled out journalist Guilherme Cruz who reported that Benoit Saint-Denis didn’t even know about the bout until the UFC announced it.

The UFC CEO uploaded screenshots of him talking to Saint-Denis about the bout and confirming the five-round fight with him before the fight was actually announced. Clearly, things spiraled out of control. But was all of this just Poirier playing coy to get some more money on the contract? Here’s what fans think.

Fans react to the Poirier drama

It’s an interesting situation that UFC fans have arrived at. Dustin Poirier and Saint-Denis were seen still in camp even after ‘The Diamond’ had said that the fight was off. Everyone speculated that it was a prank until now. Now, some believe Poirier negotiated some more money for himself by playing it this way.

“Misunderstanding is the name of the briefcase the money arrived in”

“This is Dustin playing hardball with the UFC, he just wanted a bigger bag and thats fine, this guys put their life on the line everytime for us to watch”

Meanwhile, some fans were way too shocked when Poirier told the world that the fight was off.

“Giving us heart attacks”

Some believed Dana White would be mad at him about it.

“Dana’s gonaa oil you up for this”

“Either he got offered more or Dana ripped him a new one. I like hearing an angry Dana”

Watch This Story:  Did Conor McGregor Topple Dwayne Johnson’s Record With Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House Remake? 

Meanwhile, some were just grateful it was back on again.

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“Thank you, I was honestly bumbed out when I heard the news! Turned my day around!”

Finally, one fan agreed that Poirier had him convinced first.

“Man had us in the first part ngl”

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Either way, it looks like Dana White ran for damage control and managed to communicate with his fighters to get things done. Was Poirier actually offered more money? There’s no way to tell. Everyone knows White isn’t fond of fighters using leverage and unnecessary means to negotiate contracts. So perhaps it was truly a complete misunderstanding after all. But what is your estimate? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Prit Chauhan

926Articles

One take at a time

I'm Prit Chauhan, and I'm a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. I've been in the writing business for three years, covering areas like mass media marketing, and even tried my hand at fiction. My experience includes research work at the University of California, Berkeley, which helps me spin fact-based stories about the world of Mixed Martial Arts effortlessly.
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