Dustin Poirier's retirement plans hit with blunt reality check from ex-UFC champion: "Never seen that actually go well"

Even before UFC 318 was announced, Dustin Poirier had been vocal about his intentions to call it a career following his next fight. A former champion believes this mindset could adversely affect 'The Diamond' in his MMA swansong.

Poirier will lock horns with Max Holloway in what would be their trilogy fight on July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the lead-up to the fight, the former interim lightweight champion has been clear that this would be his last dance regardless of the result.

Check out Dustin Poirier reaffirming retirement plans below (15:33):

Ex-UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, however, feels that this plan is going to negatively impact Poirier's performance against Holloway. During a recent interview with The Schmo, Alvarez weighed in on the upcoming trilogy, saying:

"It's really hard to lose to someone three times in a row. Max is a champion in his own right, Dustin is as well. I just want to see a good fight... Personally, I don't like [it] when a guy says, I'm done, I'm retiring and then he proceeds to fight. I don't like that. I've never seen that actually go well for someone, where they say they are going to retire, they go out there and put a performance of a lifetime, and then they walk off into the sunset. Rarely do you see that. So, I don't love that that's the situation we're going into."

Check out Eddie Alvarez's comments on Dustin Poirier below (4:44):

As the 41-year-old sees it, Poirier should've kept his retirement plans to himself and revealed them only after the fight.

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Eddie Alvarez outlines how Dustin Poirier's style could fail against Max Holloway

Dustin Poirier has come out on top both times he crossed paths with Max Holloway. However, Eddie Alvarez believes this time, around at UFC 318, 'The Diamond' might play right into Holloway's hands.

During his interview with The Schmo, 'The Underground King' observed that Poirier regularly employs short bursts of overwhelming barrages to wear on his opponents, a strategy, he believes, could come up short against 'Blessed'

"He is really good at putting on sprints.... The issue with that is Max is a volume puncher. He has great cardio. Putting sprints on him, Max just may meet him halfway and welcome something like that."