Make no mistake about it: Dustin Poirier is still at the top of his game. Even at 36, he remains among the UFC’s most dangerous fighters both standing and on the mat. He has wins over Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler and Benoît Saint Denis in recent years.
So why, despite a No. 6 ranking among lightweights and a headlining fight at UFC 318 against Max Holloway in New Orleans on Saturday, does he plan on taking off the gloves for good?
It all comes down to family.
“Me and my wife have been together for a long time, since before I was fighting, so she’s been on this whole journey with me,” Poirier told NBC News last week. “She’s been asking me to stop fighting for a long time, and so has my daughter.”
After 30 wins in 40 fights, a resume mostly made up of all-out wars that have made him a fan favorite, Poirier has followed their advice. The Lafayette, Louisiana, native will walk out in front of his hometown crowd and compete for the final time, ending a legendary career.
Poirier said his long-term health was a major factor.
“I want to be there for my family for the long run,” he said. “I want to watch my daughter get married and always be there for her, not just physically, but mentally, too. I want to leave with my faculties. This isn’t good for you. Getting kicked and kneed and punched in the head for 18 years isn’t good for you.”
Poirier said he officially came to terms with the decision after his last fight against Islam Makhachev in June 2024. In that bout, a fifth-round submission loss, he suffered his third defeat in a championship. He previously fell to Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov, respectively, with the belt on the line. The UFC will typically only give you so many shots at a title.
He likely would have needed another winning streak to get back into contention, he said, and at his age, with wear and tear on his body since he began fighting at 17, it didn’t appear set to happen anytime soon.
Facing Holloway on Saturday for the UFC’s “BMF” belt — a title distinguishing the promotion’s “Baddest Motherf—-r” — is a nice consolation prize for years of thrilling fights. He could walk out to the octagon in front of his hometown crowd, beat another fan favorite and leave with gold around his waist.
It would be the perfect ending to one of the UFC’s most storied careers.
Poirier emphasized how important it was to get out of the sport before the sport got him out. Too many fighters over the years have entered the cage past their prime with declining skills and athleticism and suffered life-altering damage.
He said he still feels good enough to compete at a high level, which is why it was a tough choice to leave now.
“I’m not getting forced out of this,” he said. “I’m choosing to walk away, and that’s very important to me.”
Unlike most fighters, Poirier has been outspoken about preventing neurological issues. He told NBC News ahead of the Makhachev fight that he was debating retirement, partially “to take care of my brain health.”
One year later, it’s still top of mind.
“It’s not something I thought about when I was a young kid in my early 20s or mid-20s,” he said this week. “It’s something that as I got older in the sport, I started realizing things and noticing things and doing my research and just growing up and realizing this isn’t good for you. I’m not saying don’t [become a fighter]. I’m just saying take care of yourself.”
Poirier has altered some of his habits to help in this area. He now consumes healthy fats, fish oils and turmeric, takes creatine, uses hyperbaric chambers and has limited intense sparring ahead of fights.
His opponent on Saturday has also been outspoken on the topic. Before his UFC 308 title fight against Ilia Topuria in October 2024, Holloway talked about the importance of brain health.
“You only get one brain. Once that thing starts deteriorating, it’s not like anything else where you can grow it back,” he said. “Be smart, go see specialists, go see doctors, go do research on your own brain health and take care of yourself. At the end of the day, that’s what it is. I don’t want to be a vegetable when I grow older.”
The UFC has taken steps to help athletes protect their brain.
According to the promotion, a five-stage protocol will be used to determine if a fighter is fit to return to action after a concussion. Every fighter also has an immediate full examination by a commission doctor and a UFC physician after their bout. They may be required to undergo a CT brain scan, an MRI brain scan, and/or have a neurology follow-up evaluation.
The promotion has additionally supported the Cleveland Clinic’s ongoing Professional Athletes Brain Health Study. Since 2011, more than 900 athletes have participated in testing that will help determine the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma and factors that put certain individuals at higher risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The UFC has contributed more than $2 million to the cause.
“If you had a way to identify people who are at risk of these long-term effects, then the hope is you could treat them early or advise people,” Dr. Charles Bernick, the founder and primary investigator of the study, told NBC News. “Kind of empower athletes when they’re active on their own brain health, so they can make decisions. That to me is the most exciting stuff.”
The Professional Athletes Brain Health Study remains an ongoing project, Bernick said. It aims to work with both current and retired fighters for a minimum of five years.
“This gives us a real opportunity because some of the athletes that started as active athletes subsequently retired during the duration of the study,” he said. “So we’re able to kind of get a perspective of what happens once a person stops fighting, stops getting exposed to whatever they’re exposed to … and try to understand why some people have ongoing problems, even though they’re not exposed anymore, and [why] other people seem to be resilient.”
While no study has been completed solely focused on MMA or boxing fighters, there have been on former NFL players.
In February 2023, Boston University’s CTE Center announced that after studying the brains of 376 former football players, 345 (91%) came back with a diagnosis of CTE.
Like football players, fighters know the risks of a physically demanding sport. Nobody understands that better than Poirier.
“Every fight, every fight camp takes something I can never get back. Pieces of me I can never get back,” he said. “I’m gonna leave a piece of myself out there next weekend. That’s just something that I’ve come to terms with. But fighting is just something I do. I’m a father and a husband and a business owner and a brother and a son. I’m a lot of other things. Fighting is just something I do.”