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Dustin Poirier is disappointed to have to press pause on his training. But he realizes the need of the hour and is acting accordingly.
Poirier was preparing to start his camp for a potential fight in May against Dan Hooker. But with the Coronavirus pandemic spreading across the world, certain things are more important to Poirier than fighting right now - his family.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, 'The Diamond' shared how he is coping through this unexpected hiatus as three major U.S. states shut down completely to combat Covid-19.
Dustin Poirier: I just want to be safe and be with my family
Poirier had spent some time away from the cage since his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov last September owing to a hip surgery the following month. Last week, he traveled to Connecticut to witness his American Top Team co-members fight at Bellator 241, after which he had planned on restarting his training in Florida. But both the event and his plans were canceled owing to Coronavirus restrictions, which Poirier shared over Twitter.
If the tweet was not enough, it is clear from the interview that Poirier knows where his priority lies.
"First time in our lives that we’ve had a pandemic happen like this where we’re talking about domestic travel bans and curfews countrywide. It’s a crazy time. I just want to be safe and be with my family."
Poirier admitted that he has nothing to worry about financially if the fights are delayed for now, but he does not want to stay away from his family at all. His wife and daughter were to meet him in Florida in a week and a half's time, but instead, he flew back home to stay in social quarantine together.
Poirier is staying in shape for the fight
Although training is canceled, for now, Poirier is not compromising with his weight. Since most of the gyms and training centers in his hometown Louisiana are closed, Poirier has chosen other ways to stay fit during this period.
"I’m still going to eat clean and run in the mornings and I’m about to train in 30 minutes here in Louisiana with my buddies. I’m good to go. That’s not really a priority right now. I’m just trying to wait this out day by day and see how this all happens."
When asked if the delay or postponement of the fight is bothering him, Poirier rejected the idea outright. To him, the situation is far bigger than any fight of his and he is ready to out wait as long as it takes to get everything back to normal.
"I’m not worried at all about my fight being pushed back or cancelled or whatever. Like I said, this is just fighting. It’s whatever. Of course, I want to fight. I want to get back in the win column and have a great performance and all that stuff but if it gets pushed back or cancelled or it’s a couple months later, that’s not a big deal to me."
UFC has already postponed three events indefinitely, and the April 18 event of UFC 249 featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson is in deep waters as well. There is absolutely no certainty about whether Poirier's fight will take place anytime soon, even though UFC president Dana White is assuring they will bounce back from this faster than ever. However, Poirier is not sweating about it right now and focusing on keeping himself and his family safe.
"Fighting is something I do. It's not who I am 100 percent."
