Poirier defeated Chandler via rear naked choke in their meeting at UFC 281 before being knocked out in a rematch with Justin Gaethje the following year, but “The Diamond” rebounded by stopping surging contender Benoit Saint-Denis to earn his third crack at undisputed UFC gold.

At UFC 311, Dariush had a different opportunity, as he was set to take on Renato Moicano. Unfortunately, the Brazilian stepped in on short-notice for an injured Arman Tsarukyan, who had withdrawn from his lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev in the main event.

Despite Arman Tsarukyan pulling out of UFC 311, Daniel Cormier still believes the rising lightweight deserves a fight with Islam Makhachev.

Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan had an intense face-off in their pre-fight presser ahead of their lightweight clash at UFC 311 on Saturday. Makhachev puts his UFC Lightweight Title on the line. Islam defeated Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in his last fight.

Major change to UFC 311 as Arman Tsarukyan injury scuppers Islam Makhachev main event - Renato Moicano steps in on one day’s notice, challenging Makhachev for the lightweight title

He was set to rematch Arman Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Inglewood, Calif., but Tsarukyan pulled out Friday. UFC champ Islam Makhachev opens up on mistakes in Dustin Poirier win Khabib Nurmagomedov urges 'old school' UFC lightweights like Dustin ...

Dana White is no fan of last-minute withdrawals, and his decision to withhold an immediate title shot for Arman Tsarukyan has drawn Daniel Cormier's attention.

Lopes is the number three-ranked featherweight in the world, but has only made one appearance up the weights in short notice catchweight bout against Dan Ige. Meanwhile Poirier was the last man to challenge Makhachev at UFC 301 last summer, losing by submission in the fifth round.

LOS ANGELES – As far as a possible trilogy with Arman Tsarukyan is concerned, you can count Islam Makhachev out.

Arman Tsarukyan is pulling out all the stops to win his rematch with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

UFC 311 continues with the UFC lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan. Check out our UFC odds series for our Makhachev-Tsarukyan prediction.

Even though he may only be one UFC fight away from retirement, Dustin Poirier isn't here ... did feature an unexpected main event after Arman Tsarukyan was forced out of his lightweight title ...