BOOM! Nate Diaz returns vs. Poirier at UFC 230

BetOnline.ag opened Dustin Poirier as a -175 favorite for his UFC 230 showdown vs. Nate Diaz (+150) in the co-main event at MSG in NYC.

Published on Friday, 8/3/18, at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has needed to light a fire under its fans’ rear parts for quite some time now. The promotion did just that late last night when Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times broke the story of Nate Diaz’s return to the Octagon to face Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier at UFC 230 on Nov. 3 in New York City at Madison Square Garden.

I mean…give me some of that!!

What a week it has been! From the Oscar Meyer scandal to the Gators enjoying a helluva Thursday and now this? I like it.

Diaz and Poirier will collide in the co-main event for a three-round lightweight contest. The scrap will officially be announced later today during a presser at The Orpheum Theater in L.A.

Diaz last graced the Octagon for his bloodbath rematch with Conor McGregor, who won a majority decision in a fight for the ages at UFC 202 on Aug. 20 of 2016. Since then, Diaz has been on the sidelines enjoying the millions of dollars he made in a pair of fights with McGregor.

Diaz won the first meeting on less than two weeks of notice, submitting ‘The Notorious’ via rear-naked choke in the second round of their UFC 196 headliner. Diaz’s finish of McGregor garnered him 2016 Submission of the Year honors.

When Diaz teased a return earlier this year, he implied that his fellow lightweights needed to make something happen. Well, Poirier has been making plenty of noise in 2018.

The Lafayette, LA., product scored a fourth-round knockout win over Justin Gaethje in an April slugfest that’s the leading candidate to earn Fight of the Year honors. Then this past weekend, Poirier dusted Eddie Alvarez by second-round KO.

With McGregor expected to fight 155-pound champ Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year, Poirier didn’t want to wait around on the sidelines for an indefinite period of time. And I’m sure he’s getting the best payday of his career here, so it was a no-brainer to sign on the dotted line.

I reached out to veteran MMA oddmaker Nick Kalikas (Twitter handle: @FightOdds) earlier today. I asked if he had come up with a number yet and told him that I was thinking Poirier at around -260.

Kalikas informed me that BetOnline.ag had just opened Poirier at -175, with Diaz as a +150 underdog. Kalikas said, “I think that number is low. I think your number of -260 is more accurate. The public will bet Poirier up for sure.”

Other fights on the UFC 230 card include Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold in a rematch between former middleweight champs. Rockhold demolished Weidman by fourth-round KO back at UFC 194. Since then, however, Rockhold is 1-2 in three fights, including a first-round KO loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 199. Bisping finished Rockhold despite fighting on very short notice to take his belt in his first title defense.

Other UFC 230 bouts: Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa and Jacare Souza vs. David Branch.

All 24 fighters made weight this morning for tomorrow’s UFC 227 card. I like Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt to beat T.J. Dillashaw as a very short underdog, and I’m also on ‘under’ 2.5 rounds in the headliner for a +110 return.

Make sure to check out Games Galore 44 with GambLou joining me to break down the UFC 227 card in the final segment.

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