White Reveals UFC Fighter Care Program

Dana White was asked about Dustin Poirier at the UFC 329 post-fight press conference. His answer was brief and pointed in a specific direction.

"We do the same as the WWE. We don't talk about that stuff. But yeah, we do the same. Any guys that have problems — believe me, a lot do — and we take care of them,” White

He did not elaborate on the specifics of the program, but he made clear that Poirier would have access to support if he needed it. The question was prompted by Poirier's arrest at Atlanta International Airport last month for public intoxication, the most visible consequence of a difficult transition out of professional fighting.

Poirier retired after losing to Max Holloway at UFC 318 last year, and in the months since he has been open about what that transition has looked like — alcoholism, depression, and the absence of the structure and purpose that competitive fighting provided for most of his adult life. The airport incident, which carries a misdemeanor charge that could result in up to a year in jail if he is convicted, surfaced what had been a private struggle.

Poirier has spoken publicly about his mental health battles with a directness that the sport rarely sees from its athletes, and he has said he does not want sympathy — just honesty about what retirement can do to fighters who have built their identity around competition. He continues to work as an analyst for Paramount+, but has acknowledged that the professional platform does not replace what he felt inside the octagon.

Poirier is regarded as one of the finest lightweights the sport has produced. His record includes wins over McGregor, Holloway, and Justin Gaethje, and his trilogy with McGregor alone produced some of the most commercially significant and technically compelling fights of the last decade. He retired without an undisputed championship, a fact that feels beside the point given the career he had.

What comes after that career, for him and for others like him, is the question the sport has not fully answered.