Poirier Refuses To Retire On A Loss – ‘I Can’t Leave’
Dustin Poirier refuses to retire on a loss as he considers his next fight.
The Diamond lost out to UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. Poirier was stopped via a fifth-round submission as he missed on an elusive title. It was a massive disappointment having lost lightweight title fights against Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov previously. Before the Islam fight, the bout was billed as Poirier’s potential last fight. Dustin recognized that he would not get too many title shots, raising question marks over his motivation for fighting.
But since he has not announced his retirement, Poirier still has the desire to have another fight. There are possible big fights on the horizon. Nate Diaz has expressed his ambition to fight in the UFC again. He has not done so since beating Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in 2022. Since then, he has had boxing bouts against Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal. While he lost to Paul, Diaz avenged the Masvidal loss at UFC 244 by winning a majority decision. Despite Diaz being a big name, Dustin has doubts about that fight.
Poirier’s Next Fight
“The thing with Diaz is — I’m in contact with the UFC behind the scenes about my next moves all the time. We talk when I want to fight again, how bad are my injuries, things like that. And the last time I brought his name up, they didn’t want to talk about him, they didn’t want to do business.
“A lot of fans don’t know, behind the scenes he’s such a struggle to deal with that I think they just don’t want to do it anymore. But if it came around, if that was something that was a reality, I 100 percent would take the fight right now, sign a contract today. And Nate knows that because I’ve done it a few times,” Poirier said
Further fights include a fourth bout with Conor McGregor, a fight with Justin Gaethje or even Max Holloway, to name a few. The McGregor fight is the biggest payday out there. Porier has a 2-1 record against McGregor, beating him at UFC 264 in 2021 in their last clash. Meanwhile, a rematch with Gaethje allows Dustin to rewrite the UFC 291 loss where he was knocked out. As for Holloway, he is the current BMF Champion, allowing Dustin to push for a belt. There are also big-name bouts with Alexander Volkanovski, Charles Oliveira and Colby Covington. Dustin was clear that he wanted to avoid losing two on the spin and go out on a high.
Poirier’s Mindset
“After the Islam fight, when I got back home I thought, ‘Maybe this is it?’ A few weeks went by, injuries started hurting less and less post-fight, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to do this again.’ I’ve never lost two in a row. I can’t leave this sport on a loss. But at the same time, I want to be 100 percent in it if I’m going to do it again, because I don’t want to disrespect the sport.
“I honor this stuff. I do. [And] I just want to do it right and get my hand raised and leave on my terms with a win. But that’s no guarantee. I could go back out there and somebody could whip my ass. That’s the thing..,If I do fight again and when I do fight again, it will be definitely one of those guys you just said,” Poirier added
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