Joseph Duffy “absolutely gutted” at UFC Fight Night 76 removal, Dustin Poirier hopes to get bout rescheduled

Joseph Duffy and Dustin Poirier have both weighed in on their UFC Fight Night 76 main event being scrapped, with Duffy in particular obviously being distraught after getting removed from his first UFC main event in his home country.

Duffy suffered a concussion in training this week, and he could only apologize to all involved for not being able to compete on Saturday’s card.

A photo posted by Joe Duffy (@duffymma) on Oct 21, 2015 at 2:57pm PDT

As for Poirier, he’s hoping to get the fight rescheduled by UFC 195 in Las Vegas on Jan. 2.

Sorry to the fans that were looking forward to this fight. It’s out of my hands. Hopefully we can get it rescheduled…. — The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015

I’ll wait to reschedule. This is the guy I’ve prepared to fight for the last 10 weeks https://t.co/R7l54l6ANG

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015

Jan 2nd Las Vegas https://t.co/ubp98FlhAe — The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015

Norman Parke, who competes on the card in a fight against Reza Madadi, said he was approached with an offer to step in against Poirier, but that Poirier turned the bout down. For Poirier, it was a decision that made the most sense to him and his team.

I’m trying to be professional. I sat back and talked with my coaches and this is the decision we made. https://t.co/CTxWCLsHsn

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015

. @norman_parke this was my team’s and management’s decision to let the small fish go and fight Duffy when he’s healthy.

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 21, 2015

Penick’s Analysis: I’m never going to criticize a fighter for not taking a last minute booking. Sometimes it’s crazy and entertaining when it happens, but it’s not always advisable, especially in a spot like this for Poirier. He’s been training for a specific opponent, and to throw it all out and risk his spot against a guy like Parke who is capable of slowing things down in ugly fashion to grind out a win, there’s no upside. It wouldn’t have been a better main event, and it wouldn’t have done much to “save” this card, so Poirier made the right call. This is obviously among the worst scenarios the UFC could have expected to find themselves in, but given it’s an event airing on UFC Fight Pass, they’re moving forward with the card and not needing to scrap it entirely.