Dustin Poirier says anyone in the top ten could get a title shot.
Former UFC Featherweight and current Lightweight Dustin Poirier switched weight divisions after his loss to Conor McGregor at Featherweight. Poirier worked his way to his current ranking of 8th in the Lightweight division which McGregor has been the champion of since last November. Poirier recently spoke with Fightful MMA's "Showdown Joe" Ferraro about the current state of UFC's Lightweight division.
"I don't really like the interim belt stuff. But rankings as a whole, do they matter? Number seven just fought for an interim title. Conor needs to come back and defend the belt and the interim title needs to get unified with the real title," said Poirier.
McGregor has not fought in the UFC since winning the Lightweight championship. Recently, Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee for an interim championship at UFC 216. Originally Ferguson was intended to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the interim title but Nurmagomedov did not make it to fight night. Poirier said opportunities are available in the division when fighters drop out of bouts.
"Rankings man, we can see anyone one through ten can get a title shot. Somebody gets hurt. Somebody doesn't fight. Somebody takes a year off," said Poirier.
Poirier has been scheduled to fight former Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC Fight Night 120. The two have never fought each other despite being in the same division since their days in WEC.
Fightful MMA will provide live coverage and a recapping podcast for the entire UFC Fight Night 120 fight card.
