Following his knockout loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291, in September last year, Dustin Poirier admitted it sent him into a ‘darkness’, which left him considering retirement from MMA.
The last time Dustin Poirier suffered a knockout loss, was back in 2016 when he was finished in round one of his main event with Michael Johnson. Throughout his 32-fight MMA career, he has only suffered the fate three times.
Despite suffering the knockout back in July of last year, Poirier returned this past Saturday with a knockout of his own, bouncing back from what was a tough period for ‘The Diamond’.
The knockout win over Saint-Denis at UFC 299 last Saturday, marked redemption for the 35-year-old, putting him back on a positive path.
Without being part of the Louisianan’s team or family, his mental struggles following his loss to Gaethje will have gone completely unnoticed.
On the lead-up to his return fight against Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299, the 35-year-old admitted he made several lifestyle changes, to try and get his mental headspace in a good position. Seeing a therapist was one of the changes Poirier made, along with morning walks without the distraction of his mobile phone.
Dustin Poirier opens up about mental struggles following loss to Gaethje
Talking to Ariel Helwani on Monday’s MMA Hour, Poirier talked about how suffering the knockout loss to Gaethje, sent him into a darkness which left him considering retirement from the sport.
“The world doesn’t know but the people close to me know. I went through some real mental struggles, I was going through some stuff and that’s when I really started practicing mindfulness and setting my intentions and just trying to be grateful for every day.” Poirier said.
When asked how bad the struggles got, Poirier admitted ‘really bad’, but spoke about how grateful he is to have his wife, Jolie, who he has known since he was a teenager.
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“A lot of people helped me, my friends, business partners here in Louisianna and my wife. I’m just very thankful for her. If I was in her position I don’t know if I could take the stuff she’s taken. I would like to think I could but I’m just grateful to have someone like that.
“A couple of times (considered retirement), worse man it’s very scary. I try to look at things a little bit differently like fighting is just something I do type of mindset, because fighting was everything to me it was my whole life.” he added.
Another fighter who has recently opened up about similar struggles is Alexander Volkanovski. The former featherweight champion opened up about his mental struggles following his knockout loss to Islam Makhachev back in October last year.
Poirier admitted that although he hadn’t talked to other fighters about his mental struggles when he saw Volkanovski open up, he realized he was going through the same thing.
“Whenever I saw Volk (Alexander Volkanovski) talking and expressing himself and me being honest I was like, we’re going through the same thing. I started actually doing therapy after the fight.”