Dustin Poirier has been warned that he needs to improve his conditioning if he is to beat Nate Diaz in a prospective bout.
The former lightweight title contenders are locked in negotiations over a fight to happen later this year in what would be Poirier's move up to welterweight.
Diaz is flirting with leaving the promotion, with sources indicating that he is looking to take a boxing match against Jake Paul later in the year after his last UFC fight.
But it is now being reported that a Poirier fight would only happen if Diaz is willing to sign a new deal with the promotion for future fights, which would end all boxing talks.
And should the bout materialise, Diaz's teammate Nick Maximov has said that Poirier will struggle in the later rounds if he is unable to become just the third man in the UFC to knock out the California native.
The unbeaten UFC newbie, who made his debut in the promotion last year, has been training with Diaz for years, and believes he has a better gas tank than Poirier.
"I think [Dustin Poirier's] biggest weakness is his gas tank from his last fight," Maximov told SportsKeeda MMA. "I think he relies a lot on power.
"He's a good boxer and he's technical and he's pretty strategic. But man, he relies so much on his power and he doesn't have much of a gas tank.
"If you're fighting Nate, that could be really rough."
The 24-year-old has been touted as a potential opponent for Khamzat Chimaev in recent weeks after Diaz turned down the opportunity to fight the exciting up-and-comer.
Diaz is more interested in fighting around the top of the welterweight division, which is looking less and less likely after going 1-3 in his last four fights and taking years out between bouts at time.
He and Poirier were offered a shock late-notice fight to take place either this weekend at UFC 270 or in a few weeks at UFC 271, but it never came to fruition.
Would you like to see a fight between Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
The Louisiana native let slip earlier this month that while nothing had been signed, he had agreed to the fight just weeks after his loss to lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
But Diaz responded by telling him that the UFC weren't interested, pouring cold water on the exciting match-up.
It remains to be seen if the pair will ever actually fight, having been signed to square off at Madison Square Garden in 2018.
"I just talked to the UFC," Diaz tweeted after Poirier had revealed that the pair were in talks.
"I said 'what's going on with the Dustin Poirier fight, I wanna fight as soon as possible'.
"But they said 'Dustin sucks' and they don’t want it sorry. Dustin you suck hope to fight soon though let’s do this.
"P.S. Oliveira you suck too."
