Dustin Poirier Talks UFC Future, Wants To Test His Hands With Islam Makhachev

Dustin Poirier fighting in the UFC

Getty Image


UFC’s Dustin Poirier is coming off a big win against Michael Chandler at UFC 281 in November, and he’s setting himself up for big things in 2023.

We sat down with Poirier, courtesy of Timex, the first-ever Official Timekeeper and Watch Partner of UFC, who partnered with the former UFC interim lightweight champion to introduce a collection of officially branded UFC watches before his last fight at UFC NY.

Last month, Poirier battled a nasty staph infection on his foot that needed surgery, but thankfully he’s back on his feet training again and is nearly at full strength.

“I’m good. I’m back to good health. I’m here in South Florida training again. But it got scary for a second, man. I was in the hospital for five days… I would say I’m back to about 90%.”

With the UFC lightweight division at a standstill, while Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight against Alexander Volkanovski, Poirier is currently waiting to find an opponent, but there’s nothing on the horizon that interests him at the moment.

‘I’m not really interested that much in any of these guys anymore. We’ll see. If the UFC calls me and they have a name that gets me excited, then I’ll know it’s the right thing, but otherwise, nothing’s really jumping out to me.

“Of course, I want to be the world champion, but if I’m not next in line for the belt, if there’s a big fun fight that gets me excited, I might do that. We’ll see. Like I said, I don’t know what the right move is, but I’m hoping when they start saying names and they start asking or telling me potential fights, that one of them gets me excited.’

Before UFC 281, Makhachev questioned Poirier’s jiu-jitsu credentials. Poirier fired back at Islam by yelling “who ain’t got Jiu-Jitsu” after submitting Michael Chandler.

When asked if he’d want to test his Jiu-Jitsu against Makhachev, here’s what Poirier had to say.

‘No, I’d like to test my hands, but we’ll see what happens, man. We’ll see what happens.’

As for who he thinks will win in the fight between Volkanovski and Makhachev at UFC 284.

‘I think Volk is going to be a little undersized at 155, but he can still win it. He can still get it done. He’s beat some great 145ers beat Max Holloway a few times, so we’ll see, but I think he’s just going to be a little bit undersized compared to Islam. Islam’s big, solid, strong.’

For years, Poirier and his wife have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to help underprivileged communities through The Good Fight Foundation. According to Poirier, he feels it’s his duty as a human being to help those in need.

“I recognize the position that I’m in and that people have an outlet where people are listening, and I can spread the news or raise money for different causes, and I don’t take that stuff slightly. I want to be able to exactly what the name of the foundation, fight the good fight, use my platform and the position I put myself in to help those who are in need. Underappreciated in tough situations. That’s my duty as a human being.”

Before UFC 281, Poirier, alongside UFC superstar Sean O’Malley teamed up with Timex to help promote the Timex UFC collection, which now includes 15 watches retailing for $65 to $210 that are inspired by the combat sports promotion.

Yeah, my partnership. So obviously, the Timex Company came over and became an official sponsor of the UFC. With that, they were branding them as the official timekeeper of the UFC, and they picked a few fighters from the roster who had fights coming up, and they did. I don’t know anybody else’s deal, but my deal was short-term, three months when I was in camp, obviously, and the fighting month and then the month after. So I did a three month deal with them. And that’s just it. Maybe the other guy’s deals are longer. I know for sure they work with Sean O’Malley and myself. Those are the only two guys I know they worked with.”

Jorge Alonso BroBible avatar
Brobible sports editor. Jorge is a Miami native and lifelong Heat fan. He has been covering the NBA, MLB and NFL professionally for almost 10 years, specializing in digital media.