Dustin Poirier revealed some behind the scenes secrets ahead of his final fight.
Poirier announced ahead of UFC 318 that he will be retiring following his third fight with Max Holloway on July 19.
With ‘The Diamond’ winding down a legendary career, this has allowed the former interim lightweight champion to expose some information that was previously kept quiet.
At UFC 302, Poirier was submitted by Islam Makhachev when he challenged for the lightweight title for the last time.
While Poirier suggested that this could’ve been his final fight, the 36-year-old is instead set to make the walk in front of his home fans in Louisiana.
Dustin Poirier reveals that Mateusz Gamrot accidentally broke two of his ribs ahead of UFC 302
In a recent interview with ESPN MMA, Dustin Poirier spoke openly about some of the setbacks he has overcome in his career that he’s not spoken about publicly before.
‘The Diamond’ claimed that he came into his UFC 302 fight with Islam Makhachev severely compromised after suffering an injury in training in the final stages of his preparations.
While the challenger ended up having a decent amount of success against the former pound-for-pound number one before he was submitted in the fifth round, his broken ribs did not help him.
Poirier obviously spent a lot of time working on his grappling ahead of his lightweight title fight, with his teammate, Mateusz Gamrot, being an invaluable training partner for this particular camp.
However, training with another one of the division’s top contenders did eventually lead to an injury, though Poirier is quick to point out that it was a complete accident.
“My last fight, the Islam fight, I had two broken ribs going into the fight and I knew it was going to be a wrestling grind. My wife wanted me to pull out of the fight, Mike Brown (head coach) wanted me to pull out of the fight but I couldn’t. Yeah.
“Gamrot broke my ribs like right before fight week. It was an accident. What’s crazy though [is] it was an arm bar. It was just my arm was pulled weird and I did like a hitchhiker, I was trying to roll out and then my ribs just popped.”
Dustin Poirier reveals that he beat Max Holloway in their rematch after another significant injury
Another one of the significant past injuries that Dustin Poirier revealed during his interview was a factor ahead of UFC 236.
In the main event, ‘The Diamond’ faced off with Max Holloway in a rematch that was seven years on from their first encounter.
The two men produced one of the best UFC title fights of all time which saw Poirier claim the interim lightweight belt after winning a unanimous decision.
Despite Poirier’s impressive win, which he will look to replicate in his final fight at UFC 318, another freak accident led to him facing adversity before he’d even stepped inside the Octagon.
“I had a lacerated bicep. I don’t know if anybody ever noticed but like between rounds I’m shaking my arm. I threw a punch and a guy blocked and my arm missed and the scans showed like a slice. It wasn’t a torn bicep, it sliced my muscle like someone hit me with a hatchet. My whole arm was black, all the blood drained down.”