FIGHTER PROFILE: DUSTIN ‘THE DIAMOND’ POIRIER

What do Conor Mcgregor, Justin Gaethje, and Max Holloway have in common besides being past UFC champions? Well they’ve all lost to Lafayette, Louisiana’s own Dustin Poirier in the last three years. In fact the only loss in Poirier’s career in the last four years was to Khabib Nurmagomedov, the greatest lightweight of all time. Poirier has come back from that loss with a vengeance. And is set to make a title shot against Charles Olivera at UFC 269 in December.

Poirier was born on January 19, 1989 in Lafayette Louisiana. Poirer is of French descent and is of cajun heritage. Dustin was always a fighter and left school after getting in multiple scraps and in other trouble landed in a Juvenile detention center. Poirier decided to pursue a career in fighting, Poirier is quoted as saying ​​“I played sports and messed around with boxing when I was younger, but moving toward fighting was something different. I’ve always loved the purity of two men stepping in to fight one another. I was in a lot of street fights when I was younger. I got into them when I was younger, then plenty through high school, and it was always something I was good at. It’s weird to say, but I found a sense of calm in the chaos. I enjoy that about fighting.”

Poirier got his start fighting in promotions across Louisiana and the South where he quickly gained a 7-0 record. Eventually Poirier would join World Extreme Cagefighting. He would win one fight and lose one fight with the promotion, but this was a pivotal moment for the young fighter as WEC merged with the UFC and all the fighters on the WEC roster became UFC fighters. 

Poirer won his first fight with the promotion, beating number one contender Josh Grispi who was supposed to fight 145 pound champion Jose Aldo, but Aldo was injured so Poirier had to step in. Real trial by fire, but Poirier prevailed. Since then Poirier has had a 20-5 record in the promotion with one no contest. Against some huge names in the featherweight and lightweight divisions.  Poirier won the Lightweight Interim Championship Belt at UFC 236 against Max Holloway. 

Poirier still resides in Lafayette, LA where he lives with his wife, Jolie. Poirier and Jolie welcomed their daughter,  Parker Noelle Poirie into the world on  August, 20th 2016. Poirer trains at American Top Team for his MMA training. Poirier is  also a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Tim Credeur.

Poirier has business and philanthropic interests. He runs The Good Fight Foundation with his wife, Jolie. In 2020 Poirier received the Forrest Griffin Community award from the UFC for all of his charity work.  Poirier also runs a hot sauce business under the Heatonist brand. ‘Poiriers Louisiana Style’ hot sauce was released in late 2020 with a hotter version being released in mid 2021. 

Poirier will face Charles Olivera at UFC 269 for the Lightweight title on Saturday December 11th 2021.

Donate to the Good Fight Foundation HERE