Dustin Poirier Hints at Retirement Following Potential Title Victory Against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302: “Made an Official Decision”

Dustin Poirier has been dominating the lightweight division for years now but has never got his hands on undisputed UFC gold. And time is running out for the Diamond, so much so that Poirier has claimed that a win over Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 could be the end of his legendary career.

Poirier has been really close to winning the title twice before, almost choking out Khabib Nurmagomodev with his infamous guillotine at one point. Now, following his impressive win over Benoit Saint-Dennis, he finds himself that the doors of fate have welcomed him with another title shot against Khabib’s protege, Islam Makhachev.

Although he is showing no signs of slowing down, leading many to ask why must he even contemplate retirement, there is only a certain amount of punishment a fighter can take before calling it a day.

Ahead of his next fight, Dustin Poirier sat down for the Fight Bananas podcast on YouTube where he spoke about the possibility of retiring if he beat Makhachev,

“It could be, I haven’t made like an official decision yet, but it could be. I’ve said this over and over again, I still have a lot of tread on the tyres, I can beat these guys, I just did it…It’s just like how much do I want to give to this sport.”

Dustin Poirier also reiterated how he has to miss out on a lot of family stuff because of his training. Prior to the BDS fight at UFC 299, Poirier claimed to have completely isolated himself during his camp, so much so that he wasn’t taking calls or texts from his own family, so he could get into the right mindset.

This, of course, can be excruciating given that he was a really young family, and like any other father and husband, he wants to be able to give them all he can. Needless to say, the fight game has a way of chipping away at you, so you end up having very little when you get back home. So as far as retirement goes, the question remains- Does Dustin Poirier feel he has given enough to the sport of MMA?

‘The Diamond’ then shifted his focus to Islam Makhachev saying he held the key to the fight and could dominate the American fighter.

Dustin Poirier has a simple plan to put Islam Makhachev to sleep

Poirier has been doing this for a very long time. From once being the unpredictable young gun from Lafayette, Louisiana to going toe to toe with some of the greatest of all time, he’s done it all. So he knows a little bit about trash talk. Afterall, he’s the only fighter Conor McGregor has had a trilogy with.

So when Dustin Poirier heard that Islam Makhahcev was talking trash about his fighting style, in the same podcast on YouTube, posted by Championship Rounds on X, he spoke about how he would respond to Makhachev’s statement,

“Probably with a hook cross, maybe an uppercut, we’ll see. That’s how I’ll probably respond to that.”

Well, that would do it. A good Poirier boxing masterclass could end up handing Poirier the one thing he’s yet to accomplish in this sport- the undisputed UFC gold.

Dustin Poirier is not scared of Islam Makhachev’s ground-and-pound game. He has faith in his striking abilities to get the job done. That said, his ground game is not a joke either. Afterall, he did almost get Khabib Nurmagomodev during the peak of his abilities.