- Dustin Poirier assumed he injured his ACL in the middle of his title fight with Islam Makhachev at UFC 302
- “The Diamond” talked about what could be next for him
- The 35-year-old described how it was like to fight Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov
Dustin Poirier reflected on his title fight loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 while also talking about a possible injury and what could be next for him.
Dustin has to have his ACL checked
Speaking to the media in his post-UFC 302 presser, “The Diamond” revealed that he felt some “burning” in his leg mid-fight and he thinks it was his ACL. However, Poirier refused to jump to conclusions and said he’ll have it checked first.
“I might have messed my ACL up against the fence in the 3rd or 4th round, before I hit him with the switch, I don’t remember what round that was. My knee bone and my shin bone, I felt a slide, and then it started burning… but I’ll get that checked out. It didn’t bother me getting off the stool and stuff,” Poireir said.
Time to think hard
Poirier was already thinking about possible retirement heading into UFC 302. Now that he is not getting any younger, “The Diamond” nonchalantly said he has to think hard and long first. However, Poirier also firmly concluded that this could be the last fight of his career.
“I was fighting to be the world champion. What else am I fighting for? Just to fight for the thrill – because I am addicted to it, no doubt … for the money? I’m good. Me and my family are good. I don’t need the money. Money is great, but my health is first. What am I fighting for? To be the champion, again? Will I ever get that shot, even if I get on a streak? I don’t know. But it’s such a tough mountain to climb that I’ve climbed so many times,” Poirier explained.
“I’m 35 and I see people and hear people say, ‘That’s not old.’ But I have 50 fights. I’ve been fighting since I was 17 years old. I fought my first cage fight when I was 18. I have 10 fights that aren’t on my record. And I’ve been in a bunch of battles, some time this is going to catch up to me… I just got to see. I can still compete but I don’t want the sport to retire me and squeeze me out. I don’t want to be one of those guys hanging on… Tonight, if I were to have won that belt, I’d be content with everything I’ve done in this sport. It’s just I didn’t get the ultimate goal. The reason I started fighting was to be the champion, undisputed. I didn’t get it. I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know but this could be my last fight,” he added.
Islam and Khabib were good
When asked to comment about fighting Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, Poirier admitted that both were phenomenal grapplers who truly knew what they were doing.
“Honestly, the things I learned against Khabib that I’ve never felt before, Islam did a lot of that and got me down with the foot sweeps, with the balance, him switching where I needed to post to stay up, those guys are good, man,” Poirier assessed. “They’re good and they have an understanding of weight distribution and where you need to be, he swept my foot a few times and I brought that into this fight and I still got taken down with that stuff.”
What lies ahead of Poirier is still to be determined at this point but the UFC is open to having him for a longer period of time. However, what’s clear is that Makhachev has now defended his lightweight title three consecutive times.
Watch Poirier’s full presser below:
