Dustin Poirier vs. Akira Corassani added to TUF Nations Finale

Top 10 featherweight Dustin Poirier is keeping an active schedule. Having fought 3 times last year, with the last one on December 28th, "The Diamond" is set for an April 16th meeting with Akira Corassani on the TUF Nations Finale card in Quebec City, Quebec.

RT @davedeibert: Nice featherweight bout added to TUF Nations finale in Quebec City: Akira Corassani vs Dustin Poirier. #ufc @UFC_CA

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) February 28, 2014

Poirier (15-3) ended his 2013 campaign with a 1st round TKO of Diego Brandao, who missed weight so badly that Poirier just about earned himself a top 10 ranking at heavyweight. He also scored a decision win over Erik Koch prior to the Brandao win and had an entertaining performance in a losing effort vs. Cub Swanson last February.

Corassani (12-3, 1 NC) has had a bit of a weird run in the UFC, but has come out the victor in all 3 of his fights inside the Octagon. The Swede won a controversial split decision over Andy Ogle, then upset Robbie Peralta (who later failed his drug test) last April, and won via DQ against Maximo Blanco in the TUF 18 Finale after he was hit with an illegal knee just 25 seconds into the 1st round.

The process behind this booking is ... peculiar, to say the least. Poirier is ranked 6th in the UFC's top 15 featherweights, while Corassani remains unranked even though he's unbeaten in the organization. With Poirier nearing title contention I'm not sure what this accomplishes outside of Poirier staying busy and Corassani potentially proving himself to be better than projected coming out of TUF. Regardless, it should be a pretty fun fight on what is turning out to be a solid TUF Finale card, which is headlined by top 10 middleweights Michael Bisping and Tim Kennedy. The night's main card airs live on Fox Sports 1.