Dustin Poirier wants rematches with Conor McGregor and 'punk' Eddie Alvarez, but title comes first

GLENDALE, Ariz. – If Dustin Poirier could just get in the cage with Justin Gaethje and make UFC on FOX 29’s headliner a quick one, he’d be perfectly happy with that.

“If I can get in and out, clean hands, and go home to my wife and daughter, that’d be great,” Poirier told MMAjunkie on Wednesday.

But here’s the thing about former WSOF champ Gaethje (18-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC): Making it easy for his opponents is not really his thing. Poirier (22-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC), like everyone else in the MMA community, is well aware of that fact. And, not exactly one to shy away from a war, himself, he knows what will most likely happen in the FOX-televised bout at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday.

“This is going to be a battle,” Poirier said. “We’re both going to be bleeding. We’re both going to have to dig down deep.”

That’s certainly good news for MMA fans, who generally don’t mind seeing two fighters throwing leather and pushing each other to outer-worldly limits. But those types of encounters, of course, can be less fun for the protagonists, who need to be in tremendous physical and mental shape in order to deal with 25 minutes of chaos.

So how does a fighter prepare for the type of situation that the rest of us, mere mortals, can barely fathom?

“The physical work is done. I’m ready for five rounds – hard,” Poirier said “But it’s more mental. It’s like, I’m ready to bleed. I know I’m going to have to leave a piece of myself there on Saturday night. And I’m willing to do that. I know what’s stake. I know what kind of fighter he is. I know the kind of fighter I need to be to get the win. That stuff is intriguing to me. I appreciate that stuff. I honor that.

“That’s what fighting means. You don’t play this. Saturday night, it’s the definition of being a fighter. That feeling I’m going to have in there, in the later rounds when were’t both bleeding and pull it through and I get my hand raised? That’s what I do this for.”

While he knows there aren’t many guarantees in this sport, Poirier has made it clear that he believes that Saturday’s headliner is a title eliminator – especially since the turn of events that saw Khabib Nurmagomedov becoming champion at UFC 223 and Conor McGregor dethroned.

Claiming lightweight gold is, of course, what Poirier set out to do. And it comes before everything – even revenge.

“Of course I’d love to get a rematch with Conor and try to right some wrongs and mistakes I made in the (UFC 178 fight that McGregor won via knockout)” Poirier said. “But I’m fighting to be a world champion, not to catch rematches and hold grudges.”

That also holds true for former champion Eddie Alvarez, whom “The Diamond” has been beefing with since a UFC 211 that got cut short and was deemed a no-contest after an illegal knee by Alvarez. But that doesn’t mean the ex-champ is entirely off Poirier’s mind.

“Of course I want to beat Eddie’s ass, because he’s a punk,” Poirier said. “But I’m chasing gold, I’m not chasing rematches.

“It’d be nice – win the belt, and maybe he comes along and we fight there.”

To hear more from Poirier, check out the videos above and below.

And for more on UFC on FOX 29, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.