Dustin Poirier, UFC 318 media day Credit: Dylan Napoleone/Cageside Press
New Orleans — Dustin Poirier’s final fight arrives this Saturday, as he headlines UFC 318 at home in Louisiana, taking on Max Holloway in the latest “BMF” title fight from the UFC.
For Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion and still just 36, the reality of retirement has finally begun to set in. That started Tuesday, as he checked into his AirBNB in New Orleans. That is when the soon-to-be 32-fight UFC veteran realized that retirement is “really happening,” he acknowledged during Wednesday’s UFC 318 media day, with Cageside Press and other media outlets in attendance. “But like I said, I think it’s just the right time. I don’t want to get retired from this sport. I don’t want it to chew me up. I want to walk away. I don’t want it to retire me.”
And so Poirier will exit the UFC in a third fight with Max Holloway, an opponent he first faced in 2012. That was Poirier’s fourth UFC fight, and Holloway’s first. Seven or so years after that featherweight showdown, the pair would meet again, this time for an interim lightweight belt. Poirier won both encounters, but it’s Holloway who holds the symbolic “BMF” title now.
Ahead of their third meeting, Poirier noted that Holloway seems larger this time out. “That boy is big, man,” he exclaimed, after facing off with the former featherweight champ at a local New Orleans landmark. “It was just a cool feeling, cool moment to do it in a place where me and my family have such great memories. Amazing that it’s here in New Orleans, in front of that church. It’s just an incredible way to end this thing.”
For his last training camp, Dustin Poirier buckled down, eschewing recreational drugs and drinking, at least for a longer period that usual. “Not that I didn’t check all those boxes in every other training camp, I just really, really focused on 90-something days completely sober,” he noted. “No alcohol, no marijuana.”
Beyond that, despite stating that he doesn’t like “diet fad talk,” like keto and canivore diet trends, “for probably four months, five months, I’ve been eating just I guess kind of like a carnivore,” added Poirier. “Just meat and berries. A little vegetables here and there. And dude I’m in the best shape, this is the lightest I’ve ever shown up to Fight Week. Incredible. So yeah, I did everything right.”
His final walk to the octagon coming at home isn’t lost on him. It’s something fans wanted to see, especially with Poirier announcing in advance that the fight would be his last. It also means that supporters who missed his fights abroad have a chance to attend his last hurrah.
“I don’t come from a place with silver spoons, a lot of money. I don’t come from that. So all the travels and fights that I’ve had all over the world, a lot of people don’t get to go. A lot of people missed out on some big moments in person,” noted Poirier. “So to be so close to home where they can hop in their car and drive to New Orleans, and have people in the arena— fans, family, friends that never got to see me compete live, for this last one, it’s super special.”
Watch the full UFC 318 media day appearance by Dustin Poirier above.