Dustin Poirier retired from MMA and the UFC earlier this year, but in some ways he’s still in a fight. This one is with himself and that little voice in his head telling him that he still has some bullets left to fire in this old gun — if only he’d come back and show these young whippersnappers a thing or two.
“I still feel like that,” Poirier told Uncrowned. “That’s a constant battle. I know I can beat these guys. I’m not even talking about just boxing; I’m talking about mixed martial arts. The best guys in the lightweight division, I know I can beat them. That’s a constant battle with myself.”
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Poirier, 36, seems to be winning that battle for the moment. His final UFC fight came against Max Holloway for the ceremonial BMF title in July. He lost the decision, but stuck to his plan to walk away regardless of the result. He knows it was the right decision, he said, but that doesn’t make it any easy one. What’s weird is the things he thought would be the hardest parts actually aren’t.
“I was really worried about staying busy, but it seems like I was kind of lying to myself,” Poirier said. “Because in [training] camp, I think people from the outside think of that as being busy. But it’s kind of like I lock myself away from the world. I don’t answer as many calls. I don’t do as much texting people back. I don’t have any plans but training. So that chaos I always thought was being busy was actually calm. Now that I’m living a normal life, this is busy.”
By this, he means stuff like the ad campaign with Bud Light he’s currently making the media rounds to promote. Between that and his commentary work for the UFC, Poirier still manages to be a figure in this world without having to absorb the physical damage that was part of his job when he was still fighting.
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But therein lies another surprise that he’s discovered for himself in retirement. Turns out you never know how much you can miss getting hit in the head until it’s taken away from you.
“I miss that too. Pushing myself every day with my [training partners]. I mean, some of these guys are my best friends in the world,” Poirier said. “I’ve had so many great nights with them. We’ve laughed together. We’ve cried together. We’ve built each other up. We’ve made each other better. It is just like a brotherhood. When you’re in the thick of training camp — let’s just say I’m five weeks into a training camp, I’m hungry, the diet’s crazy. My body’s beat in that moment. I think in my mind, ‘I would rather be anywhere in the world doing anything else but this, sweating and bleeding and training hard right now.’ But then I get away from it and I’m like, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than doing that.”
For many fighters, the initial retirement decision is the relatively easy part. You say the words. You announce your plan. You leave your gloves in the cage and you get to bask in the accolades and career eulogies, during which time everyone tells you how great you were and how much you’ll be missed.
That’s a constant battle. I know I can beat these guys. I’m not even talking about just boxing; I’m talking about mixed martial arts. The best guys in the lightweight division, I know I can beat them. That’s a constant battle with myself.
But that fades quickly. The sport rolls ever onward. There’s always another event to promote and new fights and fighters to sell to the viewing public. Plus, when you’re a fighter with a name and a fan base, there’s always some promoter in some combat sport willing to pay you for just one more fight. This is especially true in the age of influencer boxing, which has dragged more than one retired MMA fighter into the ring for one last payday.
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It’s not like Poirier hasn’t considered the possibility. There have been rumblings of fights with guys like Nate Diaz, maybe even his old pal Conor McGregor. It’s tempting, especially since the money in these types of boxing matches can sometimes far eclipse typical UFC earnings for many fighters.
“I have to be careful,” Poirier said. “The fact of it is, it’s still head trauma. And that’s part of the reason I wanted to [retire], to be here for my family, be better to myself for my future self. But never say never. If the right circumstances came and the right opportunity was there, maybe I would. But it’s probably not going to happen.
“I just look around at what I’m doing this for. My pregnant wife, my daughter. I have plenty of reasons why I’m not doing it.”
Like all fighters, Poirier said, he knew this day was coming. Everyone knows you can’t fight forever. It’s just that this is an easier concept to understand and accept in theory than in practice.
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From the time he was a teenager, this has been the only life he’s known, Poirier pointed out. He woke up each day knowing the goal was to become a better fighter. Even when that was hectic and difficult and painful, there was a sense of peace in the clarity of that purpose. Now that purpose has vanished, replaced by the amorphous demands of a more regular life.
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“I’m still going through it, man,” Poirier said. “Some days are great, some days are bad. Every day is a little different.
“Even though I’ve had good perspective and a good outlook and knew this day was coming for a long time, I couldn’t fight forever. It’s still not an easy process, man. It really isn’t, no matter how much you think you prepare for it and set up things and plant seeds along the way.”
