Dustin Poirier has explained his dramatic U-turn to accept a proposed fight with bitter rival Colby Covington. 

'Diamond' previously declared that the only way he would scrap with 'Chaos' would be in a car park because he refused to allow him to make money in the octagon. 

But that all changed when the UFC came calling to offer the welterweight bout.

He told the MMA Hour: 'I don't hate anyone, but if there was a line right before hate, Colby's standing right there. I really dislike the guy, and I've been saying I don't want him to make a dollar off of fighting me, but they offered me him last week... 

'It was either wait to the end of the year and fight for a No. 1 contender at lightweight, or fight in July, and that was the name that they gave me. So I was like, 'F*** it.

'So that's not a call out of him. I'm not going out of my way. I don't want to fight the guy. I don't want him profiting anything off of me, but if they're not giving me a fight until the end of the year and this is what they're giving me, I've got to do what I've got to do. 

'I fought in December. I don't want to sit in a holding pattern for 10-11 months. I'm healthy and I want to fight...'

He went on to add: 'I'm kind of pissed off at myself for saying I'd do it. Not that I'm worried about the guy or his skill set or anything like that, it's that I don't want the f****** guy to prosper because I said yes to a fight with him.

'I don't want him to make a dollar off of anything that I've done or off of fighting me, period. But you get a glass of whiskey in you, they call you a couple days before, s*** happens and then you fight. So f*** it.

At least, if it does happen, it's not a fight where I'm going to take any damage. This f****** guy.'

Poirier and Covington used to be training partners so are incredibly familiar with each other's skills. 

And 'Diamond' is keen to move up from lightweight having lost in his title bid for a second time after being submitted by Charles Oliveira. 

He explained why Covington's persona does not sit well with him. 

'He's everything I dislike about mixed martial arts,' Poirier said. 'He's a cartoon character. Everything he does if for any extra click, view, none of it's authentic. He can wrestle, he's though. 

'I've been around him for years. I know him from being in the gym with him since 2012, 2013-ish, but he's just a fake, a phony...

'Colby knows what's up. He's knows what's happened in the gym. I'm not a scrap and tell kind of guy – I won't say what happened, but he knows what happened those years in the gym. 

'At the same time, I do [too]. He knows he's taken me down and rode me out rounds, but he also known a couple times what happened to him. It is what it is. I don't want my family to go through that but also I want to fight. Give me a fight.'

Covington is currently caught up in a court case after allegedly being attacked by Jorge Masvidal in a restaurant in Miami.

He he is unable to unwilling to fight Poirier, Nate Diaz seems to be the most likely back-up option.