{"id":3924,"date":"2026-01-20T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/dustin-poirier-admits-theres-always-a-pull-in-my-head-to-do-another-ufc-fight\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:00:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:00:54","slug":"dustin-poirier-admits-theres-always-a-pull-in-my-head-to-do-another-ufc-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/dustin-poirier-admits-theres-always-a-pull-in-my-head-to-do-another-ufc-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Poirier admits &#8216;there&#8217;s always a pull in my head&#8217; to do another UFC fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Retirement is yet to be resolved for Dustin Poirier. Last July, the 37-year-old lightweight legend called it quits at UFC 318 in his hometown of Louisiana &#8211; an event that marked his final Octagon appearance. Despite losing his trilogy fight against Max Holloway to win the BMF title, Poirier put on a brave performance, showing that he can still hang with the best.<\/p>\n<p>Seven months after his swan song, it hasn&#8217;t been easy for Poirier. Appearing Monday on Uncrown&#8217;s &#8220;The Ariel Helwani Show,&#8221; &#8220;The Diamond&#8221; admitted that while he hopes to return to the UFC and still be successful today, he&#8217;s still processing his new reality in his post-fight life.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s weird \u2014 it feels weird to be a citizen,&#8221; Poirier said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I miss it every day, man. I feel like some days I can beat these guys. Then some days I&#8217;m like, &#8216;I made the right decision.&#8217; This is always pulling in my head. Some days I wake up thinking I&#8217;m doing exactly what I&#8217;m supposed to be doing\u2014that&#8217;s where I&#8217;m supposed to be. Some days I wake up, and man, I wish I was fighting to look forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Poirier said he&#8217;s still addicted to the game and eats as much fighting material as possible, which only strengthens the pull he feels about returning. MMA retirements rarely last on their first try, and Poirier has seen many of his contemporaries change their minds when the curtain closes.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However, he said he would still go back on his word and talk to the UFC about a possible fight. The one-time player believes that can be attributed to his last fight coming the way it did.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The New Orleans thing was very special,&#8221; Poirier said. &#8220;It can&#8217;t be done like that again. But every day, I struggle with wanting to fight.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I put [gloves] down, I wanted to be done. &#8230; [Now I&#8217;m] I&#8217;m just trying to figure out what fills that gap, man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The UFC lightweight division has moved on in Poirier&#8217;s absence, with new talents like Arman Tsarukyan and Paddy Pimblett on the rise. While Poirier&#8217;s American Top Team teammate, Tsarukyan, continues to hunt for his first title, Pimblett has found himself in good shape, to challenge Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324 this Saturday, Jan. 24.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Poirier is no stranger to what Gaethje brings &#8211; the two have gone to battle twice, splitting the series with a win each. In a matchup between a veteran opponent and an emerging star, Poirier ultimately leans against his former opponent, favoring Gaethje&#8217;s experience for the win.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" aria-modal=\"true\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<div style=\"max-height:none;overflow:visible\">\n<p>Dustin Poirier continues to fight his mental battle in life after MMA.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"caption-credit\">    (Cooper Neill via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;I think he was in those 25-minute battles,&#8221; Poirier said of Gaethje. &#8220;He&#8217;s been in dogfights before. I think Paddy&#8217;s going to have a hard time stopping him, and I don&#8217;t think Paddy&#8217;s going to be able to take him down. So [Pimblett&#8217;s] he will have to fight it [Gaethje]unless Paddy can stay disciplined for 25 minutes, stay away, take his gun.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Justin&#8217;s a big puncher, and he&#8217;s going to take risks to get one of those shots. It&#8217;s hard to stay away from that for 25 minutes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Sitting at No. 5 in the official UFC lightweight rankings, Pimblett earned his title shot after winning seven UFC fights. His level of competition, however, has left questions about how far he can go. In terms of name value, Pimblett&#8217;s most notable wins came over long-time contenders Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler &#8211; both of whom entered the Pimblett Championship by strokes.<\/p>\n<p>Poirier doesn&#8217;t deny Pimblett&#8217;s authenticity, he said. The future UFC Hall of Famer remains hesitant to take much from the sample size of Pimblett&#8217;s current career against the elite.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If he beats Justin, then I believe,&#8221; said Poirier. &#8220;&#8230; I think Chandler may have shown up to get paid [against Pimblett]I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think Justin is stopping him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retirement is yet to be resolved for Dustin Poirier. Last July, the 37-year-old lightweight legend called it quits at UFC 318 in his hometown of Louisiana &#8211; an event that marked his final Octagon appearance. Despite losing his trilogy fight against Max Holloway to win the BMF title, Poirier put on a brave performance, showing &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3926,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3924\/revisions\/3926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}