Dustin Poirier signals end of an era with sobering UFC changing of the guard remark
Dustin Poirier, who is approaching his final fight in the UFC, thinks Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje won't be active for longer, as they too are nearing the conclusion of their careers.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, Poirier covered several subjects leading into his swan song bout against Max Holloway in a trilogy fight for the BMF title at UFC 318 in July.
'The Diamond' was reflective on a UFC career that dates back to 2011, with several years in the sport before that octagon debut. The 36-year-old spoke about getting to see certain legends like B.J. Penn and Chuck Liddell compete while his generation of fighters were on the rise, with Poirier now realizing he is on the other side of that inevitable transition in fight sports.
As he prepares for his retirement bout in his home state of Louisiana, the former interim UFC lightweight champion also foresees other prolific fighters from his era approaching their competitive end. 'The Diamond' said:
"I'm on my way out. Justin Gaethje's on his way out. Kamaru Usman has a few left. It's a changing of the guard right now."
Check out Dustin Poirier's comments below:
Wish list Dustin Poirier had for retirement fight
Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway will be throwing down in the coming months, but the former seemed to have other names in mind for his final bout. Poirier went as far as to describe this Holloway bout offer as something that was 'a blindside' scenario for him.
'The Diamond' touched on this in an interview wth MMA Junkie and mentioned some of the suggestions that he had for his last dance.
"I was asking for [Justin] Gaethje. I was asking Hunter [Campbell] and the UFC for Gaethje, because we're 1-1 and I want to close out that trilogy. For some reason, they really wanted this fight, so I said, 'Ok, that's cool because I respect the guy for my last fight.' I don't know what their thought process was for putting this fight together for me and Max."
Check out Dustin Poirier's comments below (0:53):