Dustin Poirier has considered moving up to welterweight “a few times” in his UFC career but was put off by rehydration issues come fight night.
Many UFC fans had been expecting Dustin Poirier to eventually move up to the welterweight division at one point or another, with ‘The Diamond’ telling Demetrious Johnson that he’s considered the move on multiple occasions in his professional career.
However, what stopped Poirier from making the move was the fact that come fight night, the vast majority of the more ‘natural’ welterweights would be significantly heavier than him – an issue he identified from training at American Top Team.
Dustin Poirier explains why a move to welterweight isn’t on the cards
Speaking to the flyweight legend on the Mighty YouTube channel, Johnson asked Poirier how he felt about the weight-cutting process ahead of his UFC 299 co-main event clash against Benoit Saint-Denis.
“Honestly, it’s one of my least favorite things about fighting” explained the 29-8 veteran, before admitting that “if you competed at your natural weight, you’d be so undersized.”
“These guys are huge man. A few times in my UFC career, I was like maybe I’ll move up to 170 but then I’m at a super gym with a room filled of 170s at this level of competition and I’m like no – I can’t do it.”
Poirier, who could undoubtedly compete at the highest levels of the welterweight division, knows that any potential opponent at 170lbs would likely have a major size advantage by the time the octagon door closed.
“They’re going to be 30 pounds heavier than me on fight night…I’m even surrounded by ‘55ers who are a lot bigger than me on the scale, so it is what it is.”
If you think that an added 30lbs might be an exaggeration on Poirier’s part, the California State Athletic Commission reported to MMAFighting that Geoff Neal gained an astonishing 30.3lbs between the official weigh-in and UFC 298 fight night – 18% of his total body weight.
When comparing Poirier’s physical attributes to those at the top of the welterweight division, he would be notably shorter and have a smaller reach than champion Leon Edwards and top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Yet he would actually have a slight reach advantage over Belal Muhammad, Gilbert Burns, and Colby Covington – although all three would each stand slightly taller than ‘The Diamond’.
Dustin Poirier takes on Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 this weekend in Miami.