Dustin Poirier vs. Eddie Alvarez verbally agreed for UFC 211

An extremely exciting lightweight bout is on course to happen at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reported on Tuesday that former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has verbally agreed to fight Dustin Poirier at the American Airlines Center on Saturday, May 13th. The UFC has not officially announced the matchup, although they are expect to do so shortly.

Poirier (21-5) rebounded from a KO loss to Michael Johnson by winning a hard-fought, grueling majority decision over Jim Miller at UFC 208. It looked as if “The Diamond” had suffered a serious leg injury in that brutal battle with Miller, but that was fortunately not the case. Poirier has otherwise won five of his last six fights, including an emphatic first-round stoppage of Bobby Green at UFC 199, as well as an impressive decision triumph over Joseph Duffy.

Alvarez (28-5) memorably won the UFC lightweight belt with a stunning first-round TKO of Rafael dos Anjos last July. The win made Alvarez the first (and so far only) former Bellator champion to capture UFC gold. He then headlined the historic UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, but it was Conor McGregor who made his own history, as his second-round TKO of Alvarez made McGregor (for all of two weeks) the first fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC championships. The 33-year-old Alvarez has never lost consecutive bouts in his decorated MMA career, and he’ll look to keep it that way by beating Poirier.

UFC 211 features a doubleheader of title fights, with heavyweight champion Stipe Miocicfacing ex-champ Junior dos Santos in the main event, while women’s strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be challenged by Brazil’s Jessica Andrade.