“To test myself really. To see if I still got it. This guy is young, hungry, on a streak, has finished his last five opponents. That makes me nervous, so I want to toss myself in the fire. There’s where I feel I do my best work, and those are the kinds of fighters I want to fight.

“Guys who are leaving it all out there, showing grit, they fight for finishes. That’s the kind of fight I want to be involved in. Every fight could be it. Every fight. Where I’m at, 35 years old, this is my 30th fight in the UFC. Every fight could be it,” Poirier said 

Whittaker Wants Strickland

Elsewhere, Robert Whittaker aims to fight Sean Strickland this summer. 

Whittaker bounced back from his stoppage loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 by beating Paulo Costa via a unanimous decision at UFC 298. The former UFC Middleweight Champ is looking to hit the heights that won him the title. He won the interim belt at UFC 213 with a win over Yoel Romero in 2017.

He was then promoted to a full champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt in the same year. Whittaker then lost his belt to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 in 2019. He also lost the rematch in 2022 at UFC 271, but the win over Costa puts him back in the conversation for a title shot. Beating Strickland, who lost the title to du Plessis, will go some way to doing that. 

“Sean’s up there as well. I think that’s a good direction. It’s moved me towards that goal that I’m looking for. Moves me in the right direction. So, I think that they’re the most logical choices moving forward though. The only thing I can kind of put down is the date I’m looking for. So, I hear on the grapevine that there’s a Perth card in August, perhaps. I would love to get on that, to run a show with that,” Whittaker said

Strickland also has a score to settle with Du Plessis after he lost his title to the South African. Israel Adesanya has also targeted the American since he beat him to secure the belt initially. But if those fights don’t happen, a Strickland- Whittaker fight could happen.