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Dustin Poirier timeline: He nearly gave us all a heart attack

  • Dustin Poirier announced his UFC 299 fight was off
  • We all freaked out and started tweeting
  • Then Dana White spoke up, and suddenly, the fight is back on

By Amy Kaplan

Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier / Gabe Ginsberg/GettyImages
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It's been a wild few hours for Dustin Poirier, Benoit Saint-Denis, Dana White and the MMA fans. We pieced together a timeline of events for everyone who may have missed what went down this afternoon.

9 am PT: It all started when Poirier tweeted a photo of himself training saying that his fight with Saint-Denis was off.

Shortly after, Saint-Denis tweeted implying he was still very much planning on fighting at UFC 299.

10:15 am PT: Poirier doubled down on the fight being off in a statement to ESPN, saying, “There was no contractual agreement before the fight was announced, and we couldn’t come to terms."

10:30 am PT: MMA Fighting journalist tweeted about the fight being off and commented on the fact that it was never official to begin with. He also shared a video of an interview he did with Saint-Denis' coach who claimed they were initially "surprised by the announcement" of the fight due to having no idea they were even in the running.

Shortly after, UFC president Dana White shared a screenshot of the fight discussions with Saint-Denis in order to prove the fight was not a surprise, he was in the loop. He also had some choice words for Cruz.

1:30 pm PT: The crisis seems to have been averted as Poirier explains the fight being off as a misunderstanding.

"Sorry folks, I jumped the gun, I couldn't get a hold of my manager for a few days. I just spoke with him and Hunter. Misunderstanding on my part. Fight is on! See you March 9th Miami!!!"

The news was confirmed with Tiki Ghosn, Poirier's manager.

MMA Twitter reacts to the whirlwind UFC 299 mix-up

Now that it seems the dust has settled, MMA Twitter is reacting to the past few hours the only way it knows best ... with memes.

UFC 299 takes place on Saturday, March 9 from Miami, FL and is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera.

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