A Ufc Legend Is Retiring To 'be There For My Family For The Long Run'

5 hours ago

Make nary correction astir it: Dustin Poirier is still astatine nan apical of his game. Even astatine 36, he remains among nan UFC’s astir vulnerable fighters some opinionated and connected nan mat. He has wins complete Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler and Benoît Saint Denis successful caller years.

So why, contempt a No. 6 ranking among lightweights and a headlining conflict astatine UFC 318 against Max Holloway successful New Orleans connected Saturday, does he scheme connected taking disconnected nan gloves for good?

It each comes down to family.

“Me and my woman person been together for a agelong time, since earlier I was fighting, truthful she’s been connected this full travel pinch me,” Poirier told NBC News past week. “She’s been asking maine to extremity fighting for a agelong time, and truthful has my daughter.”

After 30 wins successful 40 fights, a resume mostly made up of all-out wars that person made him a instrumentality favorite, Poirier has followed their advice. The Lafayette, Louisiana, autochthonal will locomotion retired successful beforehand of his hometown crowd and compete for nan last time, ending a legendary career.

Poirier said his semipermanent wellness was a awesome factor.

“I want to beryllium location for my family for nan agelong run,” he said. “I want to watch my girl get joined and ever beryllium location for her, not conscionable physically, but mentally, too. I want to time off pinch my faculties. This isn’t bully for you. Getting kicked and kneed and punched successful nan caput for 18 years isn’t bully for you.”

Poirier said he officially came to position pinch nan determination aft his past conflict against Islam Makhachev successful June 2024. In that bout, a fifth-round submission loss, he suffered his 3rd conclusion successful a championship. He antecedently fell to Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov, respectively, pinch nan loop connected nan line. The UFC will typically only springiness you truthful galore shots astatine a title.

He apt would person needed different winning streak to get backmost into contention, he said, and astatine his age, pinch deterioration and tear connected his assemblage since he began fighting astatine 17, it didn’t look group to hap anytime soon.

Facing Holloway connected Saturday for nan UFC’s “BMF” loop — a title distinguishing nan promotion’s “Baddest Motherf----r” — is simply a bully consolation prize for years of thrilling fights. He could locomotion retired to nan octagon successful beforehand of his hometown crowd, hit different instrumentality favourite and time off pinch golden astir his waist.

It would beryllium nan cleanable ending to 1 of nan UFC’s astir storied careers.

Poirier emphasized really important it was to get retired of nan athletics earlier nan athletics sewage him out. Too galore fighters complete nan years person entered nan cage past their premier pinch declining skills and athleticism and suffered life-altering damage.

He said he still feels bully capable to compete astatine a precocious level, which is why it was a reliable prime to time off now.

“I’m not getting forced retired of this,” he said. “I’m choosing to locomotion away, and that’s very important to me.”

Unlike astir fighters, Poirier has been outspoken astir preventing neurological issues. He told NBC News up of nan Makhachev conflict that he was debating retirement, partially “to return attraction of my encephalon health.”

One twelvemonth later, it’s still apical of mind.

“It’s not thing I thought astir erstwhile I was a young kid successful my early 20s aliases mid-20s,” he said this week. “It’s thing that arsenic I sewage older successful nan sport, I started realizing things and noticing things and doing my investigation and conscionable increasing up and realizing this isn’t bully for you. I’m not saying don’t [become a fighter]. I’m conscionable saying return attraction of yourself.”

Poirier has altered immoderate of his habits to thief successful this area. He now consumes patient fats, food oils and turmeric, takes creatine, uses hyperbaric chambers and has constricted aggravated sparring up of fights.

His force connected Saturday has besides been outspoken connected nan topic. Before his UFC 308 title conflict against Ilia Topuria successful October 2024, Holloway talked astir nan value of encephalon health.

“You only get 1 brain. Once that point starts deteriorating, it’s not for illustration thing other wherever you tin turn it back,” he said. “Be smart, spell spot specialists, spell spot doctors, spell do investigation connected your ain encephalon wellness and return attraction of yourself. At nan extremity of nan day, that’s what it is. I don’t want to beryllium a rootlike erstwhile I turn older.”

The UFC has taken steps to thief athletes protect their brain.

According to nan promotion, a five-stage protocol will beryllium utilized to find if a combatant is fresh to return to action aft a concussion. Every combatant besides has an contiguous afloat introspection by a committee expert and a UFC expert aft their bout. They whitethorn beryllium required to acquisition a CT encephalon scan, an MRI encephalon scan, and/or person a neurology follow-up evaluation.

The promotion has additionally supported nan Cleveland Clinic’s ongoing Professional Athletes Brain Health Study. Since 2011, much than 900 athletes person participated successful testing that will thief find nan semipermanent effects of repetitive caput trauma and factors that put definite individuals astatine higher consequence of processing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The UFC has contributed much than $2 cardinal to nan cause.

“If you had a measurement to place group who are astatine consequence of these semipermanent effects, past nan dream is you could dainty them early aliases counsel people,” Dr. Charles Bernick, nan laminitis and superior interrogator of nan study, told NBC News. “Kind of empower athletes erstwhile they’re progressive connected their ain encephalon health, truthful they tin make decisions. That to maine is nan astir breathtaking stuff.”

The Professional Athletes Brain Health Study remains an ongoing project, Bernick said. It intends to activity pinch some existent and retired fighters for a minimum of 5 years.

“This gives america a existent opportunity because immoderate of nan athletes that started arsenic progressive athletes subsequently retired during nan long of nan study,” he said. “So we’re capable to benignant of get a position of what happens erstwhile a personification stops fighting, stops getting exposed to immoderate they’re exposed to ... and effort to understand why immoderate group person ongoing problems, moreover though they’re not exposed anymore, and [why] different group look to beryllium resilient.”

While nary study has been completed solely focused connected MMA aliases boxing fighters, location person been connected erstwhile NFL players.

In February 2023, Boston University’s CTE Center announced that aft studying nan brains of 376 erstwhile shot players, 345 (91%) came backmost pinch a test of CTE.

Like shot players, fighters cognize nan risks of a physically demanding sport. Nobody understands that amended than Poirier.

“Every fight, each conflict campy takes thing I tin ne'er get back. Pieces of maine I tin ne'er get back,” he said. “I’m gonna time off a portion of myself retired location adjacent weekend. That’s conscionable thing that I’ve travel to position with. But fighting is conscionable thing I do. I’m a begetter and a hubby and a business proprietor and a relative and a son. I’m a batch of different things. Fighting is conscionable thing I do.”