BMF<\/a>\u201d title fight from the UFC.<\/p>\nFor 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 \u201creally happening,\u201d he acknowledged during Wednesday\u2019s UFC 318 media day, with Cageside Press and other media outlets in attendance. \u201cBut like I said, I think it\u2019s just the right time. I don\u2019t want to get retired from this sport. I don\u2019t want it to chew me up. I want to walk away. I don\u2019t want it to retire me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so Poirier will exit the UFC in a third fight with Max Holloway, an opponent he first faced in 2012. That was Poirier\u2019s fourth UFC fight, and Holloway\u2019s 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\u2019s Holloway who holds the symbolic \u201cBMF\u201d title now.<\/p>\n
Ahead of their third meeting, Poirier noted that Holloway seems larger this time out. \u201cThat boy is big, man,\u201d he exclaimed, after facing off with the former featherweight champ at a local New Orleans landmark. \u201cIt 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\u2019s here in New Orleans, in front of that church. It\u2019s just an incredible way to end this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his last training camp, Dustin Poirier buckled down, eschewing recreational drugs and drinking, at least for a longer period that usual. \u201cNot that I didn\u2019t check all those boxes in every other training camp, I just really, really focused on 90-something days completely sober,\u201d he noted. \u201cNo alcohol, no marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond that, despite stating that he doesn\u2019t like \u201cdiet fad talk,\u201d like keto and canivore diet trends, \u201cfor probably four months, five months, I\u2019ve been eating just I guess kind of like a carnivore,\u201d added Poirier. \u201cJust meat and berries. A little vegetables here and there. And dude I\u2019m in the best shape, this is the lightest I\u2019ve ever shown up to Fight Week. Incredible. So yeah, I did everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n
His final walk to the octagon coming at home isn\u2019t lost on him. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t come from a place with silver spoons, a lot of money. I don\u2019t come from that. So all the travels and fights that I\u2019ve had all over the world, a lot of people don\u2019t get to go. A lot of people missed out on some big moments in person,\u201d noted Poirier. \u201cSo to be so close to home where they can hop in their car and drive to New Orleans, and have people in the arena\u2014 fans, family, friends that never got to see me compete live, for this last one, it\u2019s super special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the full UFC 318 media day appearance by Dustin Poirier above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dustin Poirier, UFC 318 media day Credit: Dylan Napoleone\/Cageside Press New Orleans \u2014 Dustin Poirier\u2019s final fight arrives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[1857,49,48,639,641,1868,1858,1866,1860,1262,1296,638,1865,1864,1863,1859,1867,82,1861,640,1862],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-bellator","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-fighting","tag-gsp","tag-invicta","tag-jon-jones","tag-lfa","tag-martial-arts","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-one-championship","tag-one-fc","tag-pfl","tag-rizin","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sports","tag-titan-fc","tag-ufc","tag-wsof"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dustin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Dustin-Poirier-e1752703501899-696x461.jpg\" "\\"Dustin")
Dustin Poirier, UFC 318 media day Credit: Dylan Napoleone\/Cageside Press<\/p>\n