Dustin Poirier is set to retire from MMA later today after competing in his final UFC fight.
Poirier will leave behind an incredible career in the promotion as fans have watched him go from a debuting prospect to one of the best lightweights of all time.
While the UFC have helped to grant Poirier his dream retirement by having him face Max Holloway in New Orleans, ‘The Diamond’ has had various issues with the promotion over the years.
The most recent example being his fight with Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299, where he initially denied that the fight was happening after it was officially announced, before eventually coming to terms.
There was even a time where we may have not gotten to see some of his most iconic fights and wins after Poirier grew frustrated after missing out on a matchup with his rival.
Dustin Poirier said the UFC should release him in 2019 following frustrations with the promotion
Following his second fight with Eddie Alvarez in July of 2018, Dustin Poirier entered a strange chapter of his UFC career.
‘The Diamond’ was booked to face Nate Diaz at UFC 230 and he was left frustrated once the fight didn’t come together.
While it appeared that Poirier had withdrawn from the co-main event matchup, he later clarified that he only decided not to compete on November 3 once he was told that Diaz wouldn’t be his opponent.
After being unhappy with the fights that he was being offered around this time, this led to a social media post where Poirier seemed to have hit his breaking point with the promotion.
Just two days after this post, he was booked to face Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 236 for the interim lightweight title which remains one of the biggest wins of his career.
Poirier elaborated on this during an interview on The MMA Hour last year where he reflected on the time that he had the most conflict with the UFC.
“Probably when I was asking to be released, before I fought Max in 2019 in Atlanta,” Poirier said. “I don’t remember exactly but they were offering fights that I didn’t want. I don’t know exactly but I was asking to be released then. I ended up getting the Max fight, so it worked out.
“Yeah [I was unhappy], and the people they were offering me, where my contract was. I don’t remember exactly but that was the closest I was to being [done].”
Dustin Poirier’s win over Max Holloway helped take his career to new heights
While Dustin Poirier was unsuccessful in unifying the lightweight titles after beating Max Holloway for the second time, his run of fights after UFC 236 was remarkable.
Along with some setbacks along the way, ‘The Diamond’ produced some of his most iconic moments with wins over the likes of Dan Hooker and Conor McGregor.
It’s great to see Poirier receive the legend treatment that he deserves on his way out of the sport, but it’s crazy to think that we nearly didn’t get what has been six incredible years of his UFC run.