UFC welterweight Vicente Luque has expressed interest in fighting Lightweight Dustin Poirier. Luque returned to the octagon on Saturday a year after suffering a brain bleed in his loss to Geoff Neal, and defeated Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision. ‘The Silent Assassin’ wasted no time in targeting a new opponent and called out Poirier in the UFC Vegas 78 post-fight show.
Vicente Luque Eyeing Dustin Poirier Fight
Straight after his win against RDA, Luque said that a potential fight with Dustin Poirier intrigued him. “An interesting fight as well, I think I would love to welcome Dustin Poirier [to welterweight] if he needs somebody,” said Luque. “He said he might go to 170 so who knows, we can make that work.”
Poirier has indeed entertained the idea of moving up to welterweight. If he were to go up, he wouldn’t have to endure the tough weight cut and there would be plenty of interesting fights for him there including Luque. ‘The Diamond’ lost out on the BMF title to Justin Gaethje, and it remains unclear whether he still has ambitions at lightweight or if he’ll move to the 170 division.
A matchup between Luque and Poirier is a mouthwatering prospect. Both men are powerful strikers with a forward pressing style and have racked up 21 UFC bonuses between them. They are entertaining fighters who are always looking for the finish.
Luque “Blessed”
From May 2020 to August 2021, Luque put together an impressive four fight win streak stopping all of his opponents. He then lost a decision to Belal Muhammad before suffering a life-altering knock out loss to Geoff Neal. After the KO, tests showed that Luque suffered a small bleed on the brain, and Luque began to doubt if he’d ever return to fighting. Just over a year later, he’s back in the win column and looking forward to his next bout.
Luque spoke about how grateful he is to be back in the octagon: “It was like having the most amazing win for me, just because of everything [I went through],” he said. “So many changes in my life. I moved to Florida, moved my family, a new way of life and just training and going through the injury. At the beginning, not knowing if I was ever going to be able to do this again and then I got cleared. Then going through the training camp, I’m going to fight a legend like Rafael. It’s a special win.”
“I feel blessed. I feel amazing.” He continued. “Now it’s like all the decisions that were taken and everybody that was around to help me, we did the right moves and we’re victorious. That’s beautiful.”
All quotes credit to bjpenn.com
Would you like to see Luque take on Poirier at welterweight? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
