Dustin Poirier returns to lightweight vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira at UFC Fight Night in Virginia

"The Diamond" is headed to the lightweight division again.

WEC and UFC veteran Dustin Poirier, who has been a perennial top 10 fighter at featherweight, has opted to move up a weight class after a devastating loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 178 in September. MMA Junkie reports that Poirier's next bout will be against Brazil's Carlos Diego Ferreira at UFC Fight Night in Fairfax, Virigina on April 4th. The night's main card will air on Fox Sports 1.

Poirier (16-4) burst onto the scene with (what was considered at the time) a big upset win over Josh Grispi at UFC 125. The 25-year-old then was pitted against Chan Sung Jung in a #1 contender's fight, but Poirier was submitted with a d'arce choke by "The Korean Zombie" in what was widely hailed as the best fight of 2012. Poirier would go on to win 4 of his ensuing 5 fights before McGregor TKO'd him in under 2 minutes. The last time Poirier competed at lightweight was when he was in the WEC. He lost a decision to Danny Castillo and then TKO'd Zach Mickleweight in 2010 before heading to the UFC.

Ferreira (11-1) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who entered the UFC as a Legacy FC's lightweight champion. He quickly submitted Colton Smith in his debut, then followed it up with a knockdown and TKO stoppage of Ramsey Nijem at the rumored UFC 177 card that supposedly took place in Sacramento, CA. The Brazilian's push for a 3-0 2014 was dashed by Beneil Dariush at UFC 179 in Brazil.

No other bouts are scheduled for this event, although it's been rumored that Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas will compete on the card. We'll keep an eye out for any further updates on that particular match-up.