Last week gave us a day full of drama surrounding the UFC 299 co-main event between Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint-Denis, which was first announced by Dana White in early January.
It started when Poirier posted on X that the fight was off and later confirmed in a statement to MMA Junkie and other media outlets that the reason for the cancellation was because the fight was never finalized in the first place. In his own words, Poirier said “there was no contractual agreement before the fight was announced, and we couldn’t come to terms.”
Then a few hours later, Poirier returned to X to say the fight was back on as he apologized and said that he “jumped the gun” with his earlier announcement.
Phew! Crisis averted. Poirier and Saint-Denis will, indeed, meet in a five-round lightweight bout March 9 in Miami.
Still, what transpired last week begs some questions: What was this all about? Was it a negotiating tactic by Poirier? If the fight wasn’t finalized, why was the UFC promoting it like it was a done deal all along? Our “Spinning Back Clique” of Nolan King, Danny Segura and Brian “Goze” Garcia unpack this mess with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
You can watch their discussion in the video above, and check out this week’s full episode on YouTube below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
