Dana White says there’s a reason we’re not getting Dustin Poirier vs. Tony Ferguson, but he can’t exactly say why.

Instead, the UFC president says the only person who can say why is Poirier himself.

Reports emerged last week that Poirier and the UFC were unable to come to terms for a fight between himself and fellow contender Ferguson, which would have taken place on the same card as Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje towards the end of October. Even despite Ferguson publicly rallying for Poirier to get a bump in pay, White maintains the promotion would be looking at alternatives.

“I like Dustin, I’m not going to sit here and say anything negative about Dustin,” White said. “He’s a great kid. I don’t know if he didn’t want to fight in Abu Dhabi or whatever the deal was, he didn’t want to fight. There’s a lot of different ways to turn down a fight, negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason he didn’t want to take this fight, only he knows that.”

While White didn’t offer a name, he said they’d found a replacement for Poirier that Ferguson would meet on the same card, although the deal wasn’t cemented at time of publishing.

“We got a fight [for Tony],” White said. “[He’s not accepted] yet, no. He will though, I don’t see Tony not accepting a fight.”

UPDATE:

Poirier has responded to White’s claims.

I WANT THE FIGHT https://t.co/fGrTT8QFbY

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) September 16, 2020

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