Dustin Poirier has always been a big lightweight, so it’s all the more impressive that he was able to make featherweight all those years.
Today, Poirier is considered arguably the best lightweight in the world, at least, if Khabib Nurmagomedov is considered to be retired.
That was further showcased when Poirier knocked Conor McGregor out in the second round of their UFC 257 headliner last month. Compared to their first meeting at featherweight, Poirier showed to be much more durable as he ate many of the Irishman’s shots.
And at lightweight, of course, “The Diamond” has become one of the more heavy-handed fighters in the division as he eventually dealt McGregor his first knockout loss in the UFC.
Poirier: Cutting To Featherweight Made Me Hate The Process
Having long claimed that he would never be able to make featherweight again since moving up in 2015, fans can now understand why — especially after Poirier revealed what he usually weighed back in his 145-pound days.
“It was horrible and it made me hate the process because my quality of life sucked,” Poirier said on Joe Rogan’s podcast. “Training camps were torture. I’d walk around 190. I’d get up to 190.
“Let me tell you this, when I fought Cub Swanson in London, England, I took it on short notice. I had just won a fight before and it was right around Christmas so I was eating. They called me, they asked me my weight and I said 170 when I was 187 or something. And it was really short notice, me and my team fly out there, I’m 30 pounds over when we land. They check your weight [at] fight week when you show up to make sure, I was 176 and it was a 145-pound fight.”
In the end, Poirier somehow managed to make the weight, though he admitted the weigh-ins were blurry for him as he has next to no memory of it.
And his success at lightweight is all the more proof that fighters should stop cutting excess weight to allow for more optimal performances.
Possibility of Fighting Nate Diaz
Poirier also adds the possibility of fighting Nate Daiz at 170 before ending his MMA career.
“Before I’m done fighting, I’ll go up to 170,” Dustin Poirier said. “Yeah, I’ll go up to 170 to fight Nate.”
“Me and him (Nate) were supposed to fight at Madison Square Garden. I kind of was the fall guy, He gets to point and say I pulled out of the fight and I did. I went to get stem cells done on my hip.”
“But I was going to fight, I was going to go through a camp and fight him if they wouldn’t have started offering me other replacement opponents, Nate was playing games with the UFC, UFC started offering me opponents and I said look guys, if this is happening, I’m just going to have my hip taken care of. He’s a guy I’ve always wanted to fight.”
