When Dustin Poirier, like so many other UFC lightweights, crumbled before Khabib Nurmagomedov, he knew he had to bounce back. Ahead of Poirier’s challenge to today’s champ, Charles Oliveira, at UFC 269, he detailed the story of his return to title contention to The MMA Hour.
He knew that the Khabib loss might have been his final chance at the belt. “Like a reality that hit me – this could have been it, this could have been the chance, and I just blew it.
How “Heartbroken” Dustin Poirier Bounced Back After Devastating Khabib Loss
When all the cameras go away, when all the music stops playing, when you’re by yourself and you look in the mirror after a fight like that, or you go take a shower and reality sets in, it’s a tough pill to swallow sometimes.”
Sometimes the doubt creeps back into Dustin Poirier’s mind, but he’s got a few strategies for keeping the dark thoughts at bay.
“I’ve just got to slap myself around and say, ‘Hey, don’t talk to yourself like that.’ But that’s the thing we’re constantly doing, or I’m constantly doing, not just in fighting, but in business, everything.
Hey, this is all going to work out. But at the same time, when thoughts do creep in like that, I’m thankful for the journey, honestly. The obstacle is the way. That’s the beauty of what we do.”
It turns out that Khabib wasn’t the end for Dustin Poirier. A Fight of the Night win against Dan Hooker and consecutive wins over former champion Conor McGregor ensued. Now, Dustin Poirier has another chance to compete for UFC gold, and he’s not taking it for granted.
Dustin likes to write in a gratitude journal every day, listing all the things he’s grateful for. He also draws a big circle, that he calls the “bullseye”, and in it writes down everything he can control. Outside the circle is everything he can’t, like critics, fans’ expectations, and the white noise of UFC stardom.
The journal helps Dustin Poirier stay focused on the task at hand: fighting for the UFC lightweight belt. “But right now where I’m at, on these runs when I think about that, I’m just thankful for the journey, thankful for the position I put my family in, thankful for the people we’ve helped out with the foundation, and the list goes on and on.
After the Khabib fight, I was beat up and heartbroken. I felt like the stars were aligning, and I feel like I have another opportunity here where the stars are aligning, and I’ve put myself in the position to really go out there and say I did it.”
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