Dustin Poirier had nice things to say when asked about Paddy Pimblett.
[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] had nice things to say about [autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] when asked about the rising UFC star.
Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has often been criticized and discredited since joining the UFC roster, but “The Diamond” liked what he saw out of him in his most recent outing. Pimblett became the first fighter to submit King Green in the octagon, needing less than a round to choke him out last month at UFC 304.
The finish earned Pimblett a spot in the UFC’s lightweight rankings, and Poirier was impressed with his performance.
“He’s another one of those guys whose trajectory is like, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s going to be – not that he’s not massive, but he’s on the right track,” Poirier told MMA Junkie in an interview facilitated by his new sponsors at Brooks Running for its “Let’s Run There” campaign to promote the role running plays in health and wellness
“When you talk like that and people like your personality, and you go out there and finish guys, you know, vets and legends like Bobby. Of course, going into the fight, I knew he could win, but to finish Bobby Green that way, I was very surprised. He’s talking the talk, walking the walk, man.”
After submitting Green, Pimblett called out Renato Moicano, who’s currently slated to face Benoit Saint Denis in a UFC Fight Night headliner Sept. 28 in Paris. Pimblett earned a whopping $200,000 bonus for his finish of Green.
Dustin Poirier sees a rapidly-approaching timeline where he’ll make a decision on his UFC fighting future.
More than two months removed from his title-fight loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302, [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] is still sorting through his process about fighting again.
Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) was very realistic prior to and after his fifth-round submission defeat to Makhachev in June. He knew it would almost certainly be his final shot at the undisputed lightweight belt, and therefor he needed to evaluate his priorities going forward after a more than 15-year career.
“The Diamond” recently took an extended vacation with family and friends, and during that time he had chances to think. He determined, alongside his wife Jolie, that a decision needs to be made sooner than later, and said the month of August will play a definitive role in judging his next move.
“Me and my wife kind of said when we get back from vacation we will – cause obviously you’re drinking and eating whatever you want on vacation – we’ll clean it up, go 30 days, August, and make a decision after that,” Poirier told MMA Junkie in an interview facilitated by his new sponsors at Brooks Running. “Get in shape, see how I feel. We’ll see, man. I don’t know. … I need to make a solid decision so I can get out of the limbo, because I’m still kind of like fighting myself every day. Not sure what I’m doing.”
If Poirier, 35, isn’t chasing the title, he needs to fight out what he’s competing for. He said he understands the risk of stepping into the octagon for the wrong reasons, and needs to be certain of himself if he’s ever going to commit to doing so again.
“Inside of me it’s like I’m battling it,” Poirier said. “I feel like I can’t leave. I can’t walk away. I know I still can do it. I know I can beat these guys. It’s like an internal struggle. It’s a battle for sure. I want to fight. But we’ll see.
“Nothing is guaranteed here. I don’t know what kind of battle I’m going to be in if I lose two-in-a-row. I’ve never lost two in a row. Nothing is guaranteed in this. If I do walk away I definitely want to walk away on a high note and a win. I don’t want to walk away on an L.”
Poirier, No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings, said his first steps will be to return to his home gym in Lafayette, La., and see how his body holds up to more intensive training after multiple physical issues stemming from the Fight of the Year candidate with Makhachev.
“I’m supposed to have surgery on my nose in October,” Poirier said. “But if I made a decision or something popped up, I could push it back or whatever. Who is there for me to fight? I’ve just got to do this 30 days, get in shape, get back on the mats hard. I haven’t been able to grapple. I’ve been able to hit the bag and stuff but I haven’t been able to grapple a lot. I might be able to now. My knee is feeling better. But I’m not sure how structurally sound my nose is. When somebody face cranks me or gets something across – I don’t know what’s going to happen. Rib is better. Ribs are getting better. That’ just a time thing. I don’t know. I’ve just got to get back on the mats and see how I feel and what’s out there for me and I’ll make a decision.”
Poirier’s heart appears to still have a strong bond to the fight game, and he admits a very desirable opportunity would be hard his back on. With Makhachev seemingly nursing a hand injury coming out of his fight with Poirier, there could be a potential interim title scenario in play. If the promotion needed an alternate option to face No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, then Poirier said he would jump on it.
“Yeah for sure (an interim title with Tsarukyan) interests me,” Poirier “I wonder what they’re going to do with that. Is Arman going to continue to wait for Islam? I don’t know when Islam is going to be back. I saw a thing that he might have to have surgery. We’ll see. The lightweight division has been so crazy over these past years.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov came through for Dustin Poirier’s charity after an eBay bidder failed to pay for “The Diamond’s” fight kit.
[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] found a buyer for his UFC 302 fight kit, and it was none other than the man he once fought for the lightweight title, [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag].
Poirier wore new custom floral shorts in his UFC 302 bout against Islam Makhachev in his latest shot at the divisional title. Although Poirier lost by submission in Round 5, he sought to make a positive out of the moment by listing the shorts, along with his shirt, gloves, and hand wraps for auction for The Good Fight Foundation, a charity organized by the Louisiana native.
Unfortunately, the winning eBay bidder failed to pay for the fight kit after the auction was completed. That’s when Nurmagomedov stepped up.
During a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Poirier revealed that his former foe was interested in purchasing the shorts. According to Poirier, Nurmagomedov made good on the deal a few days later.
Poirier said Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, contacted him to complete the purchase of the fight kit, which will provide funds for the charity’s programs.
“He came through, we shipped it off, backpacks are getting filled,” Poirier said.
Poirier admitted he initially hesitated to sell the fight kit, because his fighting future is uncertain. The 35-year-old fighter contemplated retiring, and thought about holding on to what could be his final UFC fight kit. Ultimately, “The Diamond” decided to sell it to raise money to benefit his community.
For the past five years, Poirier’s charity has given away backpacks filled with school supplies to children in the Lafayette Parish school system who need assistance. This year’s “Back to School” event takes place Aug. 3 in Lafayette, La., where the charity will provide up to three backpacks per vehicle.
“We’ve got about 1,500, maybe a little bit less, maybe a little bit more, backpacks filled with school supplies for the year,” Poirier said.
McGregor clarified that after over three years away from the octagon, the fans deserve a fully healthy version of him. However, Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) isn’t sure if his injury warrants canceling the fight.
“A pinky toe? I fought with so much injuries,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “Like Conor said, he’s fought with so many injuries, I fought with so many injuries over the years, but a pinky toe doesn’t seem like a reason to pull out of a fight. Giving him his respect, I also don’t know the severity of it.”
“He crossed lines you can’t come back from,” Poirier said. “I want to whip his ass (when I see the Tweets). He’s trying to bring that out of me. He wants me to fire back. I’m just like, ‘Nah.’ Of course I want to say something back and try to set up a fight with him, but it is what it is. We have a lot of back-and-forth over the years, since 2014.”
It’s been eight years Jon Anik said he’d get a Nate Diaz tattoo if he upset Conor McGregor at UFC 196 – and then had to follow through.
It’s been a bit since [autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag] playfully suggested he’d get a [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] tattoo if he upset Conor McGregor at UFC 196.
Now about eight years into the now semi-famous “209” ink on Anik’s arm, he’s throwing out potential for a second fighter-themed tattoo. If [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] got matched up with Diaz in the UFC and beat him, Anik said he’d pay tribute to Poirier, as well, after a Poirier suggestion of it.
He even said before he hosted the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony, he thought about getting a surprise tattoo to honor inductee Frankie Edgar, a former lightweight champion.
“Certainly, the 209 tattoo will not be the last fighter tattoo or fighter tributary tattoo that I get,” Anik told MMA Junkie Radio. “If you really want to know, I was trying to find a really good fine-line tattoo artist in Vegas the week of the Hall of Fame (induction) to get my Fe Iron element symbol in honor of the great Frankie Edgar right here on the inside of my arm that also dons the 209, incidentally.
“But for Dustin, I’ve always wanted a neck tattoo. Part of me wants to mimic his tattoo with the King of diamonds right behind the ear or just a diamond emoji. We could go 337 – you know, I’m not looking to be ludicrous with different area codes with numbers all over my body, necessarily. But yeah, we would go 337.”
Anik said he thinks the odds for that fight likely would highly favor Poirier, but the longtime fighter and former interim lightweight champion from Lafayette, La., still would be worthy of some ink – and risk irking his wife, even just temporarily.
He said when he got his 209 tattoo in 2016 that it took her a minute to be on board.
“Certainly Dustin Poirier is a fighter I would have no problem immortalizing on my skin forever, even if he’s trying to get me to do it in a fight in which he might be a -400 favorite,” Anik said.
Poirier is coming off a fifth-round submission loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 in June. Diaz beat Jorge Masvidal in a boxing match this past Saturday in California. It’s been nearly two years since his last fight in the UFC, a submission of Tony Ferguson in September 2022.
Dustin Poirier pulled no punches when addressing Michael Chandler.
[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] pulled no punches when addressing [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag].
Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) submitted Chandler in a barnburner in November 2022, which is the last time Chandler was seen in action. Poirier accused Chandler of trying to cheat during their fight, and it appears that they still have bad blood.
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) July 2, 2024
Chandler’s (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) dig set off Poirier.
“Who the f*ck is ‘we?'” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “You just got here, buddy. You’re not one of us. You’re not ‘we.’ I’ve been here. ‘We’re good.’ Who’s we? Welcome to the UFC, dude. You’ve got one win in the UFC.
“He’s not one of us. I’ve been cutting my teeth in the UFC since January of 2011. He just got here. Who is we? He’s speaking for the lightweight division? Muscle Milk Mike needs to chill.”
Chandler was scheduled to welcome Conor McGregor back in the UFC 303 headliner in late June, but McGregor withdrew due to injury. Their bout has yet to be rescheduled, and many think Chandler is wasting his time by waiting.
Poirier understands the difficulty of Chandler’s situation.
“He’s risking the chance of losing the fight if it ever materializes,” Poirier said. “But if he goes in there and loses to someone else, do they give him that Conor shot again? If he takes another fight, does Conor move on and take a different fight, as well? The payoff of beating Conor McGregor, financially and just for your career, is worth the wait. But if you never get it, you’re wasting a lot of years and you’re not a young man.
“These years are very important. I don’t know the way he is. I’m sure he’s got intelligent people around him helping him with his deals. I don’t know the way his contract is structured. But if it does happen and he did the right thing on the back end, he’s going to be paid and set him and his family up. But if it doesn’t, you’re wasting a lot of years, and in this game, we get old quick.”
Jon Anik would like to see Nate Diaz handle some unfinished business if he comes back to the UFC.
[autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag] would like to see [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] handle some unfinished business if he comes back to the UFC.
Diaz called out welterweight champion Leon Edwards after defeating Jorge Masvidal by majority decision in their boxing match this past Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Anik isn’t sure if Diaz should be fighting the upper echelon in the UFC, but sees multiple entertaining options for him. He likes what he saw out of the Stockton superstar against Masvidal.
“Nate Diaz back in the UFC, I don’t know to what extent that is possible in short order, but it’s very encouraging that that is one of the first things sort of on the tip of his tongue,” Anik said on his “Anik & Florian Podcast.”
“Far be it for anyone to bet against this guy in a high-profile setting against an elite fighter. Yeah, there’s certain matchups, right? Maybe you don’t like him against Sean Brady, but there are plenty of matchups that are good for Nate Diaz. Conor McGregor is another fight, and I think he’s got a lot of fight left.”
Anik suggested [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC), who contemplated retirement after his submission loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302. However since then, “The Diamond” has teased his itch to compete again.
Poirier and Diaz have history. Their November 2018 fight booking fell through, and the pair have since tried numerous times to get their fight rescheduled. Poirier mentioned in July 2023 that he’d be willing to welcome Diaz back to the UFC.
“Dustin Poirier and I were talking at UFC 303 as he was there doing the television work,” Anik said. “There just aren’t that many fights right now for Dustin. It seems like he has the appetite to go out on a win. … Right now, Dustin Poirier’s last fight was an undisputed championship loss to Islam Makhachev.
“Dustin has intimated that he wants to fight one more time, and on the very short list of opponents that actually makes some fiscal and competitive sense is Nate Diaz. So, we’ll see if that is something that actually materializes.”
Injuries are part of the game in MMA, but there’s nothing worse than one ends a marquee UFC fight.
While the term “freak injury” might not be appropriate to use when discussing a sport that is inherently dangerous, 14 UFC main events have ended in unforeseen injuries – broken legs, separated shoulders, eye pokes, etc. – that don’t typically come in the sequence of MMA combat.
Scroll below to see a chronology of UFC main events that ended in that nature.
Note: Injuries sustained on a TKO due to strikes or tapout due to a submission are not included, nor are retirements on the stool due to extended fight damage or exhaustion. Laceration-based stoppages also are not included since they come as an intentional result of the opposition’s attack.
UFC contender Beneil Dariush says Dustin Poirier never wanted to fight him anyway.
[autotag]Beneil Dariush[/autotag] is done campaigning and pushing for a fight against [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag].
Dariush (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC), who’s long been interested in a fight against Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC), has lost hope on getting the much-desired opportunity and just doesn’t see it as a feasible an option as he once did.
Poirier teased retirement following his title loss to UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev earlier this month at UFC 302. This has turned off Dariush.
“I think Dustin is going to be able to pick whoever he wants to fight, really,” Dariush said to Helen Yee. “For me personally, that shipped has passed. I look at Dustin as someone who’s kind of like retired at this point. He never wanted to fight me anyway. I don’t know, I think he’ll pick whoever he wants.
Dariush thinks Poirier will get to call his shot if he returns to the cage – but he’s not sure he even sure if that happens. Dariush is on the fence as to whether fans will see “The Diamond” fight again.
“Just thinking about his character, I don’t think he wants to go out on a loss,” Dariush said. “I think he’s going to want to come back and go out on a W, but we’ll see because if that’s your only motivation, that can be hard for fighting, too. So we’ll see. Maybe he retires.”
Dustin Poirier is conflicted as he tries to come to a definitive decision about his fighting future.
[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] is conflicted as he tries to come to a definitive decision about his fighting future.
Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) made it clear entering and coming out of his title-fight loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 this month that his days of active competition could be done as he made a final bid at the undisputed championship.
The result didn’t go his way, and Poirier has spent the past nine days since the fight trying to determine what’s next. But he hasn’t been able to find an answer.
“Even this far removed from the fight, I still don’t know,” Poirier told “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani on Monday. “I’m kind of looking for clarity. Searching myself and taking it one day at a time. But I don’t know. I don’t know what’s next.
“I can’t say I’ll never fight again, but I just don’t know the reason. What am I going to fight for? To get into a battle? I love that. But I’ve taken some lumps over the years. It has to be for something. And maybe that something, I’ll recognize that or realize that in the coming weeks. But I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
[lawrence-related id=2745573,2745620,2745335]
Poirier came out of his fifth-round submission defeat with a bevy of injuries including a broken nose, damaged ribs and a knee issue. He said the nose will require surgery, but all told he think he could be cleared to begin a training camp in roughly eight weeks.
Given he amount of physical duress he was facing, Poirier performed valiantly against Makhachev over the course of the fight as a sizeable underdog. And that fact is part of the reason Poirier can’t completely ignore the idea another UFC fight. The 35-year-old understands whatever is left of his prime could vanish in an instant, and he said he fears that time is coming.
“The only thing that makes me not want to walk away is I still feel I can compete with these guys, and I feel I’m still getting better,” Poirier said. “It’s not like I’m slowing down too much or age is getting to me. My reaction time is still good and I know I can beat those guys. And say I do leave, in a year from now it might not be the same if I ever try to come back. I’m scared to miss what I have left to give. But I also don’t want to give too much of myself. I want to give more because I know I have a short window to give the best of myself, but also I’ve given so much of myself to the sport for so long. It’s just like, where do I draw the line? That’s a battle I have to figure out for myself, because I don’t have the answers to a lot of these things.”
Poirier revealed that if he had beaten Makhachev at UFC 302, he would’ve laid the belt and his gloves down in the center of the octagon and retired. He admitted his wife Jolie has encouraged him post-fight to call it a career, and when Poirier is most honest with himself, he said his feelings trend toward obliging.
“I’m leaning towards being done,” Poirier said. “Especially getting the title fight. How many more times would I need to fight to get myself back into position to fight for the world title? I don’t know. But like I said, I’m not going to do it again. I’m not going to fight five more times trying to earn another title shot. I’m in a weird spot and I don’t know how to explain it or what decision to make. I’m taking it day-by-day and see what comes with my mind changing and seeing how I feel.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302.
