Dustin Poirier has quite the idea for his retirement fight.

Back in June, Poirier came up short in his bid for the lightweight title, losing to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. In the buildup to the bout, there was rampant speculation that it could be the final fight of Poirier’s storied career, with “The Diamond” even saying that was possible. However, not long after UFC 302, Poirier walked that back, saying he definitely wasn’t ready to hang up the gloves just yet, and on Tuesday, the former interim lightweight champion confirmed that while speaking with MMA Today on Sirius XM.

“Realistically, I probably have five, six [fights left],” Poirier said. “But I’m not going to do that to my body. Here I’m about to have another nose surgery. What if I come back and crack it again? We’ve just got to see. It’s one fight at a time. But I definitely want to do one, and especially if there’s a possibility to come home and do it in Louisiana, that’s where I’d love to lay the gloves down.”

Poirier is set to have nose surgery soon which will keep him sidelined for a few months, but “The Diamond” confirmed he and the UFC have spoken about a card taking place in New Orleans sometime next year. If that ends up happening, it would obviously be a perfect opportunity for one final fight for the Louisiana native, and though it might be a pipe dream, there’s is a perfect opponent, or opponents, for his last dance: an old-school, one-night tournament for the “BMF” title.

“Now that excites me,” Poirier said. “Because that kind of stuff is for the dogs. That’s like old Pride days or Grand Prix. That’s a real ‘BMF.’ If you can fight a tournament in one night, multiple opponents, that’s the definition of ‘BMF.’

“That would be it,” Poirier added about retirement. “If they put that together and it was a one-night tournament, that would be it.”

The UFC has not put on a one-night tournament since UFC 23 in 1999, meaning it’s unlikely the promotion will actually do this, but if by some miracle it does, Poirier has the perfect lineup for who should join him in it.

“[Justin] Gaethje, [Dan] Hooker, and Max [Holloway], maybe. That’s a bloodbath. Do it on Friday the 13th.”

Poirier has substantial history with Gaethje, Hooker, and Holloway, having a pair of fights with both Gaethje and Holloway, as well as a Fight of the Night battle with Hooker in 2020. Gaethje and Holloway recently faced off at UFC 300, with Holloway stopping “The Highlight” with a last-second knockout to claim the “BMF” title. Holloway now challenges Ilia Topuria for the featherweight belt at UFC 308 later this month. Hooker, meanwhile, recently won a split decision over Mateusz Gamrot to move into the top-five of the UFC’s lightweight division.

And while such an idea is still a long way from taking place, it does at least have the seal of approval from UFC CEO Dana White, who responded to Poirier’s pitch after the most recent episode of Contender Series.

“Sounds fun,” White said. “Never thought about it but yeah, I love it.”

Tragic. A number of fighters wrote letters of support for the UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement, outlining urgent need for money.

Return of the GOAT. Dana White responded to Amanda Nunes teasing a possible return.

Hospital. Kayla Harrison reveals she had to go to the hospital ahead of UFC 307, responds to Julianna Peña dismissing her.

Tsk Tsk. Larissa Pacheco wasn’t a fan of PFL mocking Kayla Harrison ahead of UFC 307.

Jeopardy. Daniel Cormier claims Alex Pereira was close to withdrawing from UFC 307 due to injury.

Contender Series. Four fighters earned UFC contracts at Contender Series, including Alex Pereira’s kickboxing rival Artem Vakhitov.

Dana White Contender Series scrum.

Contender Series contract announcement.

UFC 307 Fight Motion.

Dustin Poirier got jokes.

Fighter vs. Writer

Raquel Pennington statement.

Khalil Rountree, ouch.

Jon Jones training with Gable Steveson.

Alex Pereira and Artem Vakhitov chopping things up after Contender Series.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Umar Nurmagomedov.

Sean O’Malley.

If you haven’t checked out the Contender Series stuff from last night, it’s worth your while. I don’t know if Artem Vakhitov will transition over to the UFC nearly as well as “Poatan” did, but anytime a guy who beat Pereira in kickboxing comes over, you’ve got to at least pay attention. Especially when Poatan himself gives that guy the seal of approval.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, Poirier’s one-night tournament idea is the best idea in years. I need it to happen. Please, just one time let the UFC make this happen. We deserve it.

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

The addition of Lee Bonis to the Northern Ireland squad would appear to be a direct consequence of his goalscoring exploits for his new club ADO Den Haag in recent weeks as the former Irish League striker has settled in at his new club, culminating in that treble on Friday evening.

Northern Ireland’s strikers have found goals hard to come by, so the inclusion of the in-form Bonis, despite being untested at international level, adds some more potential firepower for boss Michael O’Neill while he awaits international clearance for prolific Ross County forward Ronan Hale.

Callum Marshall, Dion Charles, Josh Magennis and Jamie Reid, the strikers named in the original squad, have scored just 15 goals in 109 games for the national side.

O’Neill will be hoping for no further injury absentees, having already had to plan without first-choice goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell and defender Dan Ballard, while still getting accustomed to life without Manchester United’s Jonny Evans, who has retired from international football.

Balmer also moved from Larne to ply his trade in the professional game in England, and now Scotland. He is another in the latest of a number of promising young players keen to impress the NI boss and make his way on the international stage.

Uncapped duo Curtis Jones and Tino Livramento have been added to the senior England squad for this week’s Nations League matches.

Liverpool midfielder Jones earned his first call-up in May as part of Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man squad for Euro 2024, but did not make the final cut.

The 23-year-old was part of the Young Lions side that won the 2023 European Under-21 Championship under current England interim boss Lee Carsley.

Newcastle full-back Livramento was part of Carsley’s senior squad for last month’s games against Republic of Ireland and Finland but did not feature.

Captain Harry Kane again trained away from the rest of the squad at St George’s Park on Wednesday but is expected to be fit.

Manchester City midfielder Jack Grealish also missed training as a precaution with a minor knock.

The Three Lions host Greece at Wembley on Thursday before playing Finland in Helsinki on Sunday.

GMP are one of several organisations who regularly communicate with WSL clubs to ensure security at matches.

However, it is ultimately the clubs’ decision on whether they want to allow players to continue to sign autographs after matches.

Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor says it is “a difficult decision” for clubs to come to as they want to maintain the authenticity of the women’s game.

City have several high-profile players in their squad including England internationals Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp, as well as Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema and Japanese star Yui Hasegawa.

But having witnessed first-hand the growing crowds and pressure on players to make time for fans, Taylor supports City’s controlled signing sessions.

“We try to do it now in a more guided way. We have a specific amount of players. We do an alleyway, where it’s more controlled,” said Taylor.

“Sometimes after games, you [would] ask security guards and they would say ‘this is bonkers, we’re going to have an accident one day’. So you see it from both sides.”

Elsewhere, Tottenham are continuing to review the situation at their home ground Brisbane Road, while Arsenal are playing more games at the Emirates Stadium.

Spurs boss Robert Vilahamn said clubs “always need to check security for players” but insisted they have a “really good bond with fans” and they want to keep that.

There are mixed views among players.

England goalkeeper Mary Earps was one of the first to highlight the difficulty in keeping fans happy after receiving criticism for not signing an autograph in 2023.

Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze, who has played at Barcelona, Lyon and Manchester City in recent years, said the measures have been taken to keep the fans safe, as well as players.

“Not every stadium is ready for this volume of fans. The fans are used to having that reaction with players, which we love as well, but at the end of the day you can’t speak to every fan,” said Bronze.

“We still have those interactions. Although I might not be signing [autographs] I still get to see them and that’s what I enjoy.

“Signing a piece of paper is nice, I get that, but I know when I was a fan I went to watch [ex-England international] Rachel Yankey and thought, ‘Whoa, this is amazing’.

“I didn’t need the picture and signature to go with that.”

Against those two teams, who met last night at Stamford Bridge, you would once more expect Celtic to be in the unfamiliar position as the underdog, the team on the back foot.

Though that eventually transpired in Hamilton, the SWPL champions came flying out of the blocks, relishing the challenge in front of them.

But once the excitement of their new surroundings wore off, reality soon hit.

Twente – competing in the competition for the 10th time – were streetwise. They know what this competition demands. They rode out the early wave of Celtic’s energy then pounced and pinned them into their own defensive third. They toyed with the hosts at times.

“We are where we are but we need to get fitter, we need to control the ball when we have it, we need to be brave and play out from the pressure like we did in the first 15 minutes,” Sadiku added.

“The movement, the pace with and without the ball. When we defend that much, we need to be fitter so that when we have the ball, we can relax.

“We concede the first goal late in the half, does that have something to do with fatigue? The second goal, we concede late in the game, so could that have something to do with it?”

“We’ll learn from this and take confidence, because they should be confident.”

That confidence comes from a second-half rally. As they did in the first, Celtic came out quick and alert from the restart and created chances they should have made count.

But ultimately they didn’t, and Kayleigh van Dooren’s late goal ensured a Twente victory. A stage this grand is unforgiving, as Celtic discovered.

It is all a learning curve, though. This is unchartered territory for a side few – if any – thought would be dining at this table when Sadiku came in just 10 months ago. A point she is keen to reiterate.

“There are errors we need to fix,” the head coach added.

“I don’t know how much people are expecting from us to be in the top 16, what we’re doing right now is we’re going to fight. We’ll try to do everything to get as many points as possible.

“In January or in the summer, I don’t think anyone expected us to be where we are right now.

“It’s been a great experience, we’ll learn and I think we can really put in a better performance for our next game.”

When interim boss Lee Carsley oversaw the wins against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, he did so without arguably some of his most important players.

As well as Palmer, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham were also absent.

While Palmer has made a blistering start to the season, Foden and Bellingham are yet to really get going.

Manchester City forward Foden scored 27 goals in all competitions last season and won the PFA Player of the Year award, but he has started just two Premier League games so far for Pep Guardiola’s side this time around.

Meanwhile, Bellingham began this season with a leg injury and has just one assist and no goals in the five La Liga games he has played for Real Madrid so far.

Then, of course, there is Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka. He featured in all of England’s games at Euro 2024, scoring one goal and providing one assist.

He has once again been a key player for the Gunners so far this season and was brilliant in the Champions League win against Paris St-Germain last week, and again in the weekend win against Southampton.

To make life even more difficult for Carsley, Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon has also been impressing and is another strong option to start for the Three Lions.

Carsley has suggested it is important to find a way to get all his best players in, and he selected Palmer as a central midfielder at England Under-21 level.

“Carsley has got to find a way of getting him into the team, but it doesn’t have to be as the number 10 ahead of Foden or Bellingham because he can play off the right as well,” former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said.

“With the talent Palmer has, and his goals and his numbers, this season his form has been better than Bukayo Saka’s, and in fact it has been better than anyone’s.

“I have always believed that if someone’s form is good, get them in. So, whether it is the right or in the middle, Carsley has to fit him in. He must start for England against Greece.”