Colby Covington would be only too happy to fight Dustin Poirier but only if 'he lets the world watch and enjoy themselves'.
Covington, 34, and Poirier, 33, were teammates at American Top Team in Florida until the former left for MMA Masters in 2020.
Both men have publicly traded verbal jabs with each other in interviews and on social media, though a potential fight has not moved any closer to coming to fruition.
Covington is currently set to face Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 272 in Las Vegas.
The fight could earn California native Covington, fighting for the first time since 2021, a shot at redemption against Kamaru Usman.
UFC welterweight champion Usman, meanwhile, looks set to defend his belt against Leon Edwards next, though there is currently no word on when or if that fight will take place later this year.
However, Covington doesn't care about any of that, as he wants to settle his 'personal beef with Dustin Poirier next'.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Covington said: “I could care less who wins.
SINGAPORE - JUNE 17: Colby Covington of United States (front) gestures after defeating Dong Hyun Kim of South Korea (back) in the Welterweight Bout during UFC Singapore Fight Night at Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 17, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
“I’m just worried about my business on Saturday night and handling another personal beef with Dustin Poirier next.
"That fight needs to happen. He’s talked too reckless in the media. Now he said, ‘It’s on sight'.
“The last time he was talking to you clickbait merchants, he was saying, ‘Oh, I’m not going to fight Colby in the octagon, where there’s finances on the line. I’m going to fight him in the streets and we’re both going to go to jail.’
"It’s funny. It’s very ironic because he talks about being a family guy, a good guy, but he wants to fight me in the streets and potentially go away from his family.
“Dustin Poirier has all these stipulations to fight me. I just have one stipulation. My one stipulation is he lets the world watch and enjoy themselves.”
Covington also claimed that he took a pay cut for his upcoming fight against Masvidal as he insisted 'this isn't about the money'.
He continued: “I forgoed the pay-per-view. I don’t care about the pay-per-view for this fight. This is a personal fight.
"I want to come and put on a show for the UFC and show that I’m deserving of being a lifetime UFC fighter.
"This is just a personal rivalry, this isn’t about the money.
“I didn’t come here to fight for money. I took a pay cut, I didn’t care about the money for this fight. This is about settling a blood rivalry.
“This has been a long time coming. This guy is holding it off as long as he could until he had no chance or no other opportunities. This is the biggest opportunity he could get to pay his alimony and to pay his child support, so of course, he had to come take his losing paycheck.