34-year-old Dustin Poirier addresses snowballing retirement rumors ahead of Benoit Saint Denis fight at UFC 299
Dustin Poirier slowed down the retirement talks ahead of UFC 299.
Later today, UFC 299 will go down inside the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, with a stacked pay-per-view main card. In the co-main event, Poirier looks to add another impressive win to his legendary resume by taking Benoit Saint Denis, a rising superstar holding a 5-1 promotional record, and all wins inside the distance.
Earlier this week, Poirier was doing an interview and claimed any fight could be his last, regardless of the outcome. Since then, the MMA community has started a narrative that ‘The Diamond’ will retire if he loses at UFC 299, which is not guaranteed.
During the UFC 299 media day, Poirier cleared the air by saying:
“Let me show and see to myself that I still got it to fight these warriors who bring it every time, have that never say die, never say quit attitude. Those kind of fights are what I want to be a part of.”
Poirier continued:
“I’ve been seeing people say [I’m retiring with a loss] a lot. I think that’s because a week ago, I did an interview and somebody asked me, ‘Is this your last fight if it doesn’t go your way?’ I said, well, any fight could be my last one, win or lose. I’ve been doing this a long time. I think that’s where they ran off with that, but we just gotta fight, just gotta fight Saturday.”
Watch Dustin Poirier's comments below:
Benoit Saint Denis compares himself to a "machine" ahead of Dustin Poirier fight
Benoit Saint Denis is a French war veteran with a different mentality than most fighters. Saint Denis has utilized his past experiences to find success in the Octagon and separate himself as a potential lightweight contender. During an interview with ESPN MMA, ‘God of War’ described his mindset while fighting by saying:
"We are getting higher in intensity. Higher and higher. The heat is starting to play on the whole body and the mind. And then, I think about nothing, I'm like machine and I just enjoy the moment and let every mistake and everything go right through me like nothing...And I'm just concentrating on one thing is destroying my opponent." [2:30 - 3:11]
Saint Denis made his UFC debut on short notice, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Elizeu Zaleski. The 28-year-old has bounced back since with five consecutive finishes, including a first-round knockout win against Matt Frevola last time out.
‘God of War’ now looks to separate himself from the rest of the division by taking out Dustin Poirier at UFC 299.
Watch Benoit Saint Denis' full interview below: