Dustin Poirier made an important business decision to turn down a last-second fight against Norman Parke at last weekend's (Sat., Oct. 24, 2015) UFC Fight Night 76 event in Dublin, Ireland, after his original opponent -- Joseph Duffy -- bowed out of their headlining fight with a concussion.
That's because he's a pro athlete, not a street fighter.
While no one can fault "The Diamond" for not taking a late switch in opponent, the talented striker received some backlash for his decision. A lot of it came from Parke himself, who called him out on Twitter for turning down the fight.
But as Dustin sees it, Parke should thank him for rejecting the contest, because had he accepted it, "Stormin'" would be looking for a new place to work this week after suffering his third loss in a row.
From his appearance on The MMA Hour:
"I'm at ease with the decision. Even before seeing him fight I knew he was a boring fighter that I could have beat, you know? That wasn't the thing, it was just the whole principle of the guy I was going to fight and the fight he had behind him and being in his hometown. I trained 12 weeks for that guy. Norman is not a tough fight. He's on Twitter saying all kinds of stuff. Dude, he should be happy he fought that guy he fought, because he'd be getting his walking papers this week. I saved his career, he should thank me."
Burn.
Poirier revealed that he had a conversation with Duffy's manger while in Ireland and was told that Duffy probably won't be able to return to action until February of 2016 due to the head trauma.
It's something Poirier understands, but waiting around for "Irish Joe" isn't an option if it means sitting out for an extended period of time.
And though he still isn't keen on giving Parke the time of day inside the Octagon, the fighter in him desperately wants to "whip his ass" for talking trash.
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