Dustin Poirier is a former UFC champion.
It may be just an interim championship belt that hangs at his house, but that’s no empty accomplishment for one of the greatest lightweights in MMA history.
“I have a UFC title, that says ‘world champion’ with my name on it, in my living room,” Poirier told reporters Wednesday during UFC 302 media day in Jersey City, N.J. “I hold that belt up high because Max [Holloway], when I beat him for that belt, was on a 12-fight win streak. He was the current featherweight champion at the time. So it’s not like I pulled the name out of a hat and beat somebody for an interim title because the champ couldn’t fight.”
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Clearly, Poirier can appreciate his feat.
Then again…
“It’s up there, but it’s not undisputed,” Poirier adds. “That’s the last spot. What else can I do in this sport?”
Poirier’s latest chance — he’s convinced it’s his final chance — to fill that “last spot” on an impressive résumé that includes a pair of high-profile victories over Conor McGregor arrives Saturday when he challenges undisputed champion Islam Makhachev in the main event at Prudential Center.
That “undisputed” distinction means the world to Poirier(30-8, 23 finishes), who lost his first attempt at claiming the title in a unification bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019 and subsequent challenge of then-champ Charles Oliveira in 2021.
It goes all the way back to when the 35-year-old was just 17 years old in Lafayette, La., told the woman who one day became his wife that he would become “the best in the world.”
“It’s not about the money. It’s not about the Hall of Fame, any records. It’s about me accomplishing something,” said Poirier of his motivation. “It’s not about business; it’s a personal thing that, I think if I can get it done, I can look back and say, ‘You know, I’m content. I’m proud of everything I did. I set a goal out as a kid that knew nothing about what I was walking into, but I kept walking about picking myself up, and I got it done.’
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“[Another reporter] asked me the question about somebody who goes undefeated their whole career and defends their belt and stuff, and that’s incredible and so hard to do. But somebody who’s been thrown away, somebody who’s been underdogged, somebody who’s been beat and broken and put themselves back together and really f–king did it: that’s what I’m after. That’s what I want.”
That goal half a lifetime in the making is within reach once again, this time against an opponent with ties to the first man to smash Poirier’s undisputed dreams.
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Makhachev, like Nurmagomedov, is a former disciple of the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov — Khabib’s father.
With Khabib retiring shortly after his father’s death in 2020, the door opened for longtime teammate and friend to rise and claim the championship for himself, in the process staking a claim as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Khabib has served as Makhachev’s coach in their native Dagestan, and the UFC Hall of Famer will also end his nearly two-year sabbatical from corner work when his charge faces his former opponent Poirier.
Although not mirror images, the fighting styles of both Nurmagomedov and Makhachev are near enough that Poirier refers to the way they fight as singular.
“I have great grapplers at American Top Team; great wrestlers. [UFC lightweight contender] Mateusz Gamrot beat me up for the past six weeks,” Poirier said before contrasting with that of Makhachev and his coach. “But their style is different: the way they ride, the way they use their weight in different positions. It’s just a different style. But I think I have a better understanding of it since fighting Khabib. I’ve never felt that kind of [top] pressure before, and I think Islam’s, obviously, his takedowns are a little different, but his top pressure and in the grappling scenario is going to be similar.”
Previous experience against a champion fighter with such a style, in theory, can’t hurt.
But Poirier stopped short of calling his 12 minutes, 6 seconds in the cage with Nurmagomedov an edge ahead of facing Makhachev (25-1, 16 finishes).
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“It might be an advantage, but it’s just more of an understanding,” Poirier said. “You don’t realize it, even though I’ve been grappling and wrestling and fighting my whole life. To get in there and feel it, somebody can explain it to you or show it to you, but until it’s live competition and you feel that pressure and you feel their intelligence of weight distribution and where they need to be at and where you need to be at, is something you have to experience.”
Poirier, entering this fight off a win over Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March, turned pro in May 2009 and reached the UFC by January 2011.
He’s been a fixture of the elite class at 155 pounds for roughly seven years now.
And while Poirier explained Wednesday how the itch to fight is far from scratched — to the contrary, it can come on while watching football or his elementary-age daughter’s soccer game — he’s been open about being uncertain if he could pick himself up again with another potential setback and seek a fourth chance at the elusive undisputed championship.
Win or lose, Poirier has said, Saturday could be his final walk to the octagon.
Whether that is the case or not, Poirier himself admits to being unsure the world will know immediately after the fight or at a later date, but he says the rationale will be “feelings-based” rather than reflective of his performance or the result of this next fight.
“I don’t know. I am kind of an emotional person, so we’ll have to see in the moment what’s going on,” said Poirier of a potential decision revelation in Newark this weekend when the dust settles with Makhachev. “But I would like to get back home, talk to my team, speak with my wife and kind of really make intelligent decisions from there.
“But we’ll see what happens, man. Life is a fight.”
