Dustin Poirier had one of the most perfect retirement nights in UFC history, but it doesn’t mean transitioning to life without fighting has been easy.
“The Diamond” faced Max Holloway for the BMF title in the main event of UFC 318 in June and lost a hard fought unanimous decision before laying the gloves down in he octagon in front of fans in his home state of Louisiana. Speaking with fans on Twitter recently, Poirier addressed life after fighting, and talked about how tough it has been, even saying “a part of me has died.”
Poirier was asked to expound on that, and discussed the realities of moving on from something that’s been part of his life for two decades.
“Yeah, it’s harder than I thought it would be,” Poirier told MMA Fighting while promoting a new partnership with Bud Light. “I thought it would be a relief. When I finally put the gloves down, and I don’t have this weight on my back, or this cloud over my head of getting better, or what’s next, there’s another fighter training to compete against me. That’s been like that in my mind for 20 years. I thought it would be a relief and an exhale, and life would begin in a different way, but it kind of hasn’t yet.
“Maybe I’m still processing, maybe it’s going to take more time than I expected, but when you do something for this long and dedicate your life to it, every day I was waking up with a fire under me trying to be a better fighter, get in better shape, learn new tricks, ask questions. It was a journey of finding out a lot about myself, but finding it out through martial arts. And then one day you wake up and it’s just not there, but the fire’s still there. But the fact that I’m not going to get to do this again — and any time I’ve ever lost in my career I’ve always righted the ship, I’ve always put things back in the right direction — and now walking away from this, I know that was it. I don’t get a chance to right this ship anymore, I don’t get a chance to put my hands in the air again.
“I miss it more than I thought I would, and I’m still processing it all day by day. Time heals all, but I’m just hoping I get into a better flow. I’ve been really just trying to keep my mind busy, staying busy doing things so I don’t have time to sit around. But, God, I’ve got to tell you, the days are long when I’m not waking up training, coming home, training again, doing road work. It’s a way of life. It’s not just a sport I competed in, it was a way I lived my life, and I’m still processing.”
Poirier is teaming up with legendary octagon announcer Bruce Buffer for a new TV commercial where they work for the Bud Light call center. In an extension to the promotion Poirier, Buffer, and Bud Light are giving fans the opportunity to attend UFC 322, headlined by Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev, at Madison Square Garden. Between now and Oct. 30, fans can call 1-800-Bud-Light to submit their “PTO request” with the lucky winner earning a trip to the Nov. 15 event.
Buffer, of course, has been part of some of the biggest moments in UFC history as the voice of the octagon, and with Poirier listening on, reflected on announcing Poirier’s name for the final time.
“Good question, and the best answer I can give is I’m a fan first and an announcer second,” Buffer said. “Dustin Poirier is one of my favorite fighters. I like him both as a fighter, and I like him and love him as a human being. Inside the octagon, outside the octagon, he’s one of the greatest role models that the UFC and the sport of MMA has ever had. His family, I’ve met his entire family, they’re wonderful. … People have to understand that I’m not just doing a job, this is, as they say, an adventure, but it’s an experience for me because I feel so close, and I have emotion for all of the fighters that I introduce — some much more than others, and Dustin is one of them.
“Knowing that was his last fight, his family’s there, his fans are watching, the long, glorious career, all of the action, everything he’s given the fans — as I always say is blood, sweat and tears — I feel for him. And I know it’s a grand moment for him. Win or lose, it’s a grand moment for him, so I want to five every ounce of passion, every ounce of energy, every ounce of lung power I have to make that moment enhanced even higher than he’s already feeling at that time. But people don’t realize, sometimes when I’m announcing a winner, or announcing them going in, I actually have experienced tears in my eyes, emotions during that time, and I can honestly say, Dustin, I had that with you. It’s a big moment. We’re brothers. We spend time, break bread together week after week, but every year, one or two times when we step into that octagon together, we’re brothers experiencing the greatest moment each of us have ever had, and can have in our lives, and thank you for letting me experience that with you.”
“Thank you, man,” Poirier said in response. “It’s definitely an experience every time, and more so that one — in Louisiana, you could feel the energy, the love, the people came — and it was crazy, man. I couldn’t even hear the bell in the second round. And the fact that whenever the post-fight video of me laying the gloves down, I don’t think a single person in that arena left. Usually when the last bell of the night rings, people are rushing to their cars so they don’t get caught in traffic, it’s a fight to get out.
“Everybody stayed in the arena and cheered me as I walked out of that octagon. I’m just truly thankful, and felt the love from the fans — not only the fans, I felt the love from the company, and the people behind the scenes at the UFC. I couldn’t have asked for more. It was an incredible night that I’m never going to forget.”
“And you deserved every bit of it, and I think, poetically, it went perfectly,” Buffer said.
Poirier’s incredible UFC career includes 32 promotional bouts, an interim lightweight championship victory, a pair of undisputed lightweight championship opportunities, two BMF title bouts, along with two career-altering victories over Conor McGregor. The 36-year-old is one of the sport’s all-time action fighters that led to earning a total of 15 post-fight bonuses.
When a fighter retires, the big question from the MMA community is always the same: Is the retirement really going to stick? Poirier was asked if anything could get him back in the octagon.
“My wife and my family really [don’t] want me to continue fighting,” Poirier explained. “The way that last fight was, obviously premeditated, we had the time to set things up and do these videos, and display parts of my career that people might have forgot about of when I was a younger fighter, showing clips to the audience and stuff. How could I ever — and it was at home in Louisiana — how could I ever do that again? It was such a perfect sendoff, I’d be doing myself a disservice by coming back.
“Never say never, but it would take the perfect circumstances and everything for me to ever put a pair of gloves back on and fight somebody.”
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