Alan Jouban says Dustin Poirier could have retired years ago, but big opportunities kept luring him back.
Those opportunities included two mega fights with Conor McGregor, where the wins resulted in two UFC lightweight title shots. However, after falling short in both title opportunities, Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) has finally decided that it’s time to retire after one more fight.
He makes his final walk against Max Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in a trilogy bout for the BMF belt, which headlines UFC 318 on July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
“Since I moved back home, since after the Conor McGregor fight, he’s been hinting at retirement,” Jouban told MMA Junkie of Poirier. “He’s been hinting at it the entire time. Every single fight that he would win or lose, he’s like, ‘I might have one more.’ I really think Dustin would have retired a long time ago if these opportunities would have not kept coming.
“He gets to fight Conor twice in a row, the biggest paydays of his career. He fights for the belt against Charles Oliveira. He’s given what people thought was a very tough lose-lose situation against Benoit Saint Denis. … Another title fight comes his way with Islam (Makhachev). It felt to me he’s trying to retire this last five years – he just couldn’t. The fights just kept getting bigger and better and more profitable.”
Jouban is confident that Poirier’s mind is fully set on walking away, and doesn’t expect any fight to change his mind – including a potential title bout against UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
“Since I’ve been talking to him pretty frequently these last number of years, I’ve never seen to the point where he is now where he is matter of fact that it’s done,” Jouban said. “This is a BMF (fight). This is at home/ This is the retirement fight. They’ve given him the fight for these reasons. He’s having a baby finally and he’s ready to move on. His foot’s been halfway out the door for a number of years now, but his foot is pretty much all the way out of the door after this fight. If some people ask me, ‘Does he come back if he wins and they offer him a title shot against Ilia Topuria?’ As many times as he has taken those opportunities, I think this time he puts it away. He says no to a title shot, to $3 million or $4 million dollars and says, ‘I’m good with it.’ His mind is in the right place.
“I talked to him the other day and I remember when my retirement fight was coming up. The one thing I remember the most about it is absorbing every training camp as if it was my last. I would get done training and get in my car home and go, ‘Wow, that my was last boxing session before the fight.’ For me, it was kind of profound. Every fighter is different. But speaking to Dustin, I asked how camp was going and he says, ‘Bro, absolutely amazing.’ I think he’s in the same mindset. He’s absorbing this so well. He’s taking the process better than other times, I think, and I think that’s going to have him fighting at the best of his potential. Fighting at home can be detrimental to some people because of the pressure and everything. But for him, he’s enjoying this process so much I think we’re going to get the best Dustin Poirier he’s going to be at this age of his career.”
