It’s been a long road for legendary lightweight, Dustin Poirier. But every trip has its bumps.
A few days after UFC 269, ‘The Diamond’ is unsure of what his future holds. Poirier would lose his second opportunity at undisputed gold, when he was submitted by the champ Charles Oliveira. The bout would be nothing but heartbreaking for the fighter.
Khabib Loss vs. Oliveira Loss
The former UFC interim champion would come up short once again, just like his first shot in 2019 against Khabib Nurmagomedov. For him though, this loss feels a lot different. He compared the two and took different stories from both losses.
“The Khabib fight I felt like I was bested. I did everything I could and I lost.” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. [In the Oliveira fight], I felt I could’ve done more. That hurts. That’s something I have to deal with. I could have been smarter. I could have been more in the moment. Could have been more locked in. I could have been a world champion.”
For Parker
Becoming a world champion has been Poirier’s goal since his amateur days, 14 years ago. Fast forward to 2021, where he was on the cusp of gold and he nearly secured it. The UFC lightweight title would have meant the world to him and it pains him to see he couldn’t bring it home to his daughter, Parker.
“The real thing that sucks for me… My daughter was there for this one. I really wanted to win and dedicate this world championship to my daughter and show her that… it hurts man.”
Poirier Doesn’t Think He’ll Get Another Chance
The hurt father doesn’t know what lies ahead of him. ‘The Diamond’ doubts he’ll ever get the chance again in his career, to right these wrongs. The dreams of a world championship are fading away for him, mentally.
“I may never get the opportunity again, to call myself world champion.” Poirier said. “To underperform… I owed it to myself, this one was for me, it wasn’t for the money. It wasn’t for proving anything. It was for me and I f*cking fumbled, man. It hurts.”
Is Poirier Done At 155?
Poirier had an smooth weight cut this time around for UFC 269. However, he is now 0-2 in undisputed title fights. There could still be a pathway for the title, should his former foe Justin Gaethje beat Charles Oliveira. Poirier TKO’ed Gaethje back in 2018 and as the saying goes, ‘styles make fights’.
This could be Poirier’s gateway to UFC gold, but ‘The Diamond’ isn’t counting on it.
“I don’t know if I’m going to. I don’t know if I want to make that cut again. I might never fight at 155lbs again. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know the future.”
Okay. Is it, is it, is it getting tough at this stage of your life? That cut?“I could have came in at 152lbs on this fight. My cut went so smooth. I felt great. Of course that’s because I did all the things I was supposed to do in training camp. It made the cut so great, but I don’t know if I want to go through that kind of training camp again, where I’m hungry every day; competing in the gym and pushing myself on low calories. We’ll see. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Retirement?
With Poirier reluctant to return to 155lbs and bearing the weight of the loss, many would assume Poirier is thinking about retirement. But, in reality, Poirier just doesn’t want to call it a career coming off a tough loss.
“I really don’t know. I would hate to never fight again, [coming] off of a loss. That would suck for me. I most likely will fight again.”
