Not All Diamonds are Forever

Order Now! UFC 302 "Makhachev vs. Poirier" Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Dustin Poirier shoulders the requisite sense of urgency for a professional prizefighter nearing the end of the road in a young man’s game. At 35 years of age and with the tread on his tires wearing thin, he has already failed in two bids to capture the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight crown. A third miss against Islam Makhachev in the UFC 302 headliner this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, would almost certainly relegate him to gatekeeper status for the rest of his career—a seemingly unfitting conclusion for one of the sport’s most revered competitors and someone who has paid a steep price to sustain his excellence for the better part of two decades.

“How much can I give of myself to this sport? Every time I get in there, I’m leaving pieces I can’t get back,” Poirier said at the pre-fight press conference. “I say this over and over again, but I really mean it. This isn’t good for you, and I understand that. Would I do it again? 100%. It’s given me everything I have, and I love it. It’s taught me so much, but I’m 35 years old and I have a daughter who’s about to be 8. I have businesses, my family. My wife’s, I’m sure, tired of me being gone and being in training camp and being stressed out about another fight.

“I’m tired of missing soccer practices, cheer performances, birthday parties,” he added. “I want to be there for my family and to be in a routine. I’m very thankful for fighting and I would do it again, but at what point am I giving too much?”

Only Poirier can answer such difficult questions. His professional journey has taken him from nondescript arenas filled with lingering cigarette smoke and floors soaked with cheap alcohol to some of the most hallowed venues in combat sports. Now, he faces what most see as his final chance to reach the 155-pound summit, the sand in his hourglass having grown painfully shallow.

“It doesn’t feel bigger,” Poirier said. “Honestly, I feel more comfortable in this position than I ever have. I know it’s big because of where I’m at in my career. Like I’ve said over and over again, I’m probably not going to get another shot to climb the ladder. I’m 35. How many shots can you give somebody? How many times can I climb that mountain? I’m trying not to focus on that part of it and just take it as another fight so I don’t add any pressure.”

While Poirier laid claim to the interim lightweight title in 2019—he proudly displays the belt in his living room—with a second victory over the great Max Holloway, he has swung and missed at undisputed gold twice before. He submitted to a third-round rear-naked choke from Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev’s longtime mentor, at UFC 242 and surrendered to the same maneuver from Charles Oliveira in the third round of their UFC 269 pairing. Neither of those setbacks threw Poirier off the scent.

Order Now! UFC 302 "Makhachev vs. Poirier" Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+

“To keep picking yourself up after getting knocked down, showing that never-say-die attitude, pulling things together, learning from your past mistakes and to just have the grit in you to keep pushing forward when things don’t go well, I think it says a lot about the person and their work ethic and their self-belief,” he said. “You get to live on a different side. There’s a lot of lessons on that dark side of not winning that you learn that the person who’s undefeated might never go through. I’ve learned a lot of lessons about fighting, about myself, through all of this.”

Poirier admits to one escapable reality: Fighters like Nurmagomedov and Makhachev were built to beat fighters like him. Better on-paper foils for the American Top Team rep do not exist.

“Over the last 17, 18 years that I’ve been fighting, these are the toughest style matchups for me—guys who are heavy wrestlers, top heavy, good top control,” Poirier said. “They’re able to take the fight where they want it to be. I’m the kind of fighter who does well in the fight, and if they can slow that down and make it more of a match or a competition … I need this to be a fight.”

Makhachev has emerged from Nurmagomedov’s enormous shadow and established himself as one of MMA’s premier pound-for-pound fighters. He enters his title defense against Poirier as a prohibitive favorite, with a 13-fight winning streak tucked in his back pocket. Makhachev has largely discounted the Louisianan as a threat to his reign, though the one blemish on his resume—a knockout loss to Adriano Martins in 2015—exposed a potential weakness and gives his opponent’s supporters reason for optimism.

“I can definitely win this fight,” Poirier said. “If I touch his chin, he’ll go down, and he’ll find that out. Maybe that’s something he doesn’t need to believe. Maybe he needs to be confident and positive walking into this, which he should be, but if you don’t think I have a chance to win, you’re lying to yourself.”

Poirier does not plan to deviate from an approach that has resulted in 30 pro victories, 23 of them finishes, and 14 post-fight performance bonuses.

“Every time I go out there, it’s a fight,” he said. “It’s kill or be killed. I know that’s used a lot and people over-say it, but it’s true. I’m going to finish Islam, or he’s going to finish me. That’s just the way I fight.”

With that said, no one understands the stakes any better than Poirier, and he readily admits the outcome against Makhachev could determine the course of his future. His motivations for the time being remain as strong as ever, and perhaps only the sight of the lightweight title being strapped to his waist can alleviate them.

“I always feel like there’s something else to do, there’s something more to do,” he said. “That’s what I’m battling with myself. I hope I can one day wake up and be content with everything.”