Dustin Poirier’s UFC return delayed with hip surgery looming

Dustin Poirier was hoping to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) return in early Jan. 2020, but now “The Diamond” is expected to be out a bit longer. Poirier shared the news on social media.

“Looks like I won’t be able to fight again until February or March,” he wrote on Twitter. “Gonna be out 6 weeks.”

As for the reason behind his delayed return, it all has to do with upcoming hip surgery, as Poirier tells MMA Fighting that he will be going under the knife to repair multiple tears in the labrum. While in there, doctors will also reshape his femur bone.

Poirier is coming off a submission loss to current UFC Lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi last month (see it again here). The loss was Poirier’s first since 2016 and just his third overall in four years.

After briefly hinting at retirement, Poirier then started campaigning for a rematch against Conor McGregor, who defeated “The Diamond” via first round knockout way back at UFC 178.

“Notorious,” meanwhile, wasn’t feeling the do-over one bit, which forced Poirier — the former UFC interim 155-pound champion — to let it be for the time being. In turn, Dan Hooker took his shot to call out the Louisiana native, but was ultimately rejected.

Now, Poirier (30) is set on focusing on his health first before mounting a comeback on his way to climbing back to the top of the division and possibly into another world title fight.