5 reasons why the UFC should make a fight between Colby Covington and Dustin Poirier

#2. Neither man has another obvious opponent right now

Dustin Poirier's 2021 loss to Charles Oliveira means that like Colby Covington, he doesn't have another obvious foe right now

One major reason for the UFC to make a fight between Colby Covington and Dustin Poirier is the fact that right now, neither man has a different clear-cut opponent waiting.

Covington’s feud with Jorge Masvidal was settled last weekend. As he already holds two losses to current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, it’d be hard for the promotion to justify a third bout between the two.

Fights with opponents such as Khamzat Chimaev and Leon Edwards might make sense. Then again, the UFC probably wouldn’t want to risk Covington beating them and knocking off a potential title challenger.

Poirier, meanwhile, is coming off his own title loss at the hands of UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira. Essentially, ‘The Diamond’ has already fought most of the other top 155lbers in the promotion.

Both men, therefore, are basically in the same spot; they’re good enough to beat most of the best fighters in their weight class, but they’re not good enough to beat the champion. The UFC likely doesn’t want them to prevent other contenders from climbing to the top.

Essentially, the only fight that makes sense for either man right now would be against one another – meaning the UFC should simply make it and see what happens.

---

#1. Colby Covington vs. Dustin Poirier would draw on pay-per-view

Colby Covington has become a major draw on pay-per-view for the UFC

Given that the UFC’s big aim is always to put together fights that draw big money on pay-per-view, any chance they get to match two big stars against each other is a chance worth taking.

Right now, the promotion doesn’t have many stars bigger than Dustin Poirier and Colby Covington.

It’s probably fair to suggest that, at the current time, Poirier is the bigger star of the two. ‘The Diamond’ defeated Conor McGregor in two epic bouts in 2021. While he hasn’t eclipsed the Irishman’s drawing power because of those wins, he’s definitely a drawing card in his own right now – the evidence being the strong 500k buys for his fight with Charles Oliveira.

Covington, meanwhile, has one of the most divisive personalities in the promotion, with as many UFC fans loving him as hating him.

More to the point, he’s also become a pay-per-view draw in his own right, with his bout with Kamaru Usman at UFC 268 pulling in 700k buys.

If you add in the feud between the two, there can be no doubt that a fight between Covington and Poirier would draw big numbers on pay-per-view – generating plenty of money both for the UFC and for the fighters. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to make the fight.