UFC legend Dustin Poirier has opened up about his thoughts on his continued retirement from mixed martial arts.
As we know, Dustin Poirier is no longer an active MMA fighter after hanging up his gloves earlier this year. While he turns his attention to other things, including some analyst work, it’s clear that ‘The Diamond’ is still there, and he’s still hungry to be the warrior we all know him to be.
In a recent interview, Poirier spoke candidly about how much he is struggling with retirement.
Dustin Poirier discusses retirement from MMA
“Yeah, it’s harder than I thought it would be,” Poirier told MMA Fighting while promoting a new partnership with Bud Light. “I thought it would be a relief. When I finally put down the gloves, and I don’t have this weight on my back, or this cloud over my head of getting better, or what’s next, there’s another fighter training to compete against me. It’s been that way in my mind for 20 years. I thought it would be a relief and a relief, and that life would start in a different way, but it hasn’t yet.
“Maybe I’m still processing, maybe it will take more time than I expected, but when you do something for so long and dedicate your life to it, I woke up every day with a fire under me, trying to be a better fighter, get in better shape, learn new tricks, ask questions. It was a journey where I learned a lot about myself, but I discovered that through martial arts.
“And then one day you wake up and it’s just not there, but the fire is still there. But the fact that I’m not going to do this again – and every time I’ve ever lost in my career, I’ve always righted the ship, I’ve always put things back in the right direction – and now that I’m walking away from this, I know that that was it. I’m not going to get another chance to right this ship, I’m not going to get the chance to put my hands up again.
“I miss it more than I thought, and I’m still busy with it all day long. Time heals everything, but I’m just hoping I get into a better flow. I’ve really just been trying to keep my mind busy, keep busy doing things so I don’t have time to sit around. But God, I gotta tell you, the days are long if I don’t wake up training, coming home, training again, doing roadwork. It’s a way of life. It’s not. just a sport I participated in, it was a way I lived my life, and I’m still processing.”
Quotes via MMA fighting
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