Former UFC BMF titleholder Dustin Poirier recently bowed out of the cage after his last bout against Max Holloway at UFC 318. Despite being out of the game, Poirier admits he misses the thrill of the fight.
Following his retirement, Poirier has turned his sights to a different career path and is focused on moving on. However, he admits it has been hard to do that as he still has some regret. “The Diamond” disclosed that he feels dead inside, and losing his send-off fight didn’t help as it ruined his chance of leaving the Octagon with a big bang.
“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,” Poirier told MMA Fighting. “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.”
In addition to his loss, the fighter disclosed that he feels a part of him has died since he left the sport and that he has been finding it a little hard to adjust.
“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.
“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.”
With his impressive UFC career and lightweight championship victory, some wonder if the fighter will step back into the Octagon. Poirier disclosed that his family might not want him fighting, but if the UFC offers him a deal he can’t deny, chances are he will make an Octagon appearance once again.
“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 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.”
Concerning his new career path, Poirier is teaming up with legendary Octagon announcer Bruce Buffer for a new TV commercial where they work for the Bud Light call center.
