Dustin Poirier says his opponent preference for UFC 318 retirement would have left ‘somebody getting hurt’

Dustin Poirier happy to escape inevitable damage from Justin Gaethje trilogy

During a recent appearance on The Danza Project podcast, Poirier looked ahead to his retirement fight at UFC 318 and spoke about how it came together. ‘The Diamond’ had his wish for the farewell to take place in his home state, where the UFC has not visited in over a decade, but not all of Poirier’s requests came to fruition.

Poirier previously revealed that he had asked to finish his series with Justin Gaethje. After the Louisianan emerged victorious from their memorable first battle, Gaethje knocked Poirier out at UFC 291 to exact his revenge and capture the BMF belt.

Though their 1-1 scoreline would usually lend itself to a rubber match, Poirier is now content with leaving things at that after seeing what Gaethje had to say on the matter.

“Originally, when I told them I wanted to retire, I wanted to fight Justin,” Poirier said. “We’re 1-1. I didn’t wanna end my career being 1-1, leaving that kind of open.

“I wanted a rubber match. I wanted somebody to be up on somebody. I wanted to get my get-back on him. I knocked him out, he knocked me out…we’ve gotta do it again.

“When this fight started coming together, my retirement plans, he was booked to fight Dan Hooker,” Poirier continued. “I wanted to fight Justin…then I saw him do an interview and he said, ‘You know what, if Dustin’s okay with it being 1-1, I’m okay with it. Let’s shake hands. Our families don’t deserve (for) us to get in another head-on collision.’

“I never thought about it that way. I was like, ‘You know what? If he’s okay with it, I’m okay with it.’ When you put it like that, somebody’s gonna get hurt. We’re both not young in the game. We both have a lot of wars under our belt.”

Dustin Poirier could have made featherweight for his final fight

Poirier stepped on to the scale for the last time on Friday, successfully making weight for his farewell fight in New Orleans.

‘The Diamond’, who will finish his career having never missed weight, claimed during the UFC 318 Weigh-In Show that his cut was so good that he even could have hit the limit of his old division.

“This was the easiest weight cut,” Poirier said. “I probably could have (gone back to featherweight).”

The Louisianan began his Octagon career at 145 pounds, where losses to Chan Sung Jung and Cub Swanson stalled his planned rise through the ranks.

Poirier’s defeat to Conor McGregor in 2014 ultimately led to a move up to lightweight that has certainly proved fruitful for the fan favorite.