ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – JULY 06: Nate Diaz during a fight against Jorge Masvidal at Honda Center on July 06, 2024 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
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Retired former UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier walked away from the Octagon earlier this year when he lost a unanimous decision to Max Holloway at UFC 318 in July. However, Poirier is seemingly interested in one more fight–though he isn’t fancying it coming in the Octagon.
Early Tuesday morning Poirier took to X to call on Zuffa Boxing to set up a 12-round boxing match with Nate Diaz.
Zuffa Boxing is the newly launched professional boxing promotion company under TKO Group Holdings (the parent of UFC and WWE), founded in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s entertainment conglomerate Sela.
It is led by UFC CEO Dana White, Turki Alalshikh (Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and President of the Saudi Boxing Federation), Sela CEO Dr. Rakan Alharthy, and WWE President Nick Khan.
The timing of Poirier’s callout wasn’t without rhyme and reason.
Zuffa Boxing just made a significant splash in the world of combat sports and entertainment with its unofficial debut on September 13 with the record-breaking Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford superfight. The fight drew over 41 million global viewers on Netflix.
To add even more life to the Zuffa Boxing name, on September 29, the promotion announced a long-term media rights agreement with Paramount (a Skydance Corporation), making Paramount+ the exclusive streaming home for its events in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America starting in January 2026. This announcement comes on the heels of Paramount+ locking in a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with the UFC earlier this year.
The two deals has seemingly created a unified hub for combat sports on the platform. If you love combat sports, these deal has made a subscription to the streaming service a must.
While neither Poirier nor Diaz are professional boxers, though Diaz has had highly publicized boxing matches with Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal, the two combat sports icons would certainly be a draw if the fight is made. It’ll be interesting to see if Zuffa has a spot for novelty boxing matches.
While tantalizing from a draw standpoint, this fight would seemingly go against what White and Co. are building with Zuffa. The plan for the Paramount+ product is for it to serve as a platform for up-and-coming boxers to build a name and following with hopes of graduating to Alalshikh’s bigger shows that are happening quarterly.
Would Poirier-Diaz fit in anywhere there? It’s hard to tell, but I don’t hate idea. We’ll find out if White and the rest of the decision makers at Zuffa like the concept.