However, due to the coronavirus, one thing that Poirier believes is that UFC Fight Night San Diego will not happen as scheduled.
“I don’t think so. I really don’t,” Poirier said to Ariel Helwani of ESPN (via Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “I don’t have that feeling. Honestly, there’s no way to properly prepare. I can’t get inside - I have my own personal gym here in Louisiana, I can hit the bags and I have another buddy, two buddies who I train with there, who are social distancing themselves as well so I trust that they are not bringing the fungus among-us in our gym, but other than that, I’m there hitting the bags and rolling with those guys or I’m at my house. So I can’t really - I can jog and stuff, I can get in shape, but to be fine-tuned for a fight at the highest level, I can’t do it. I don’t know what my opponent is doing, as well. I don’t know if he’s not being able to train. So May seems like a push, but we’ll see.”
Three UFC cards have already been postponed due to the coronavirus, with those events being UFC Fight Night London, UFC Fight Night Columbus and UFC Fight Night Portland.
Poirier says it is also going to be difficult to train for the bout due to the limitations imposed by the coronavirus.
“So even if I would leave right now and go to Florida at this point . . . who is gonna be at the gym training?” Poirier said. “I talked to Mike Brown [Head Coach at American Top Team] and he told me that they’re doing one training partner and one coach at a time, so you have to plan ahead and it’s only for people with scheduled fights. So the gym, by law, can’t be run like it was being run. They’re telling me to prepare. . . That’s the only info I do know. They told me if May 16 goes through, it’s going to be in a different U.S. city.”
UFC Fight Night San Diego takes place on Saturday, May 16 from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California with Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
