A surefire contender for the 2018 Fight of the Year looks set to take place later this year, after numerous sources reported that hugely exciting lightweight fighters Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje (above) is on tap for April or May of this year.
The news was first reported by MMAJunkie.
The bout, which has yet to be signed, isn’t yet allocated to an event but it is thought that any bout between the two will likely happen in April or May.
Gaethje (18-1), the former World Series of Fighting 155-pound champion, comes into the bout on the back of his first career defeat in his last bout to Eddie Alvarez. Gaethje was knocked out by Alvarez late in the third round of their back-and-forth brawl at UFC 218 in early December. Prior to that, Gaethje made a successful UFC debut when he stopped Michael Johnson in July.
Poirier (22-5-1) emerged successful in his most recent bout opposite Anthony Pettis in November. That followed on from a controversial no-contest against Eddie Alvarez last summer. Poirier has won six of his last eight bouts, since being defeated by Conor McGregor in the first round of their featherweight match-up at UFC 178.
The bout will likely go some way to establishing the new order at 155-pounds, as it will follow the recently announced interim title match-up between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov which has been announced as the UFC 223 headliner in Brooklyn, NY, on April 7th.
Gaethje is currently ranked at 5th in the official UFC lightweight rankings, while Poirier occupies the 6th spot.
