What’s Next For Dustin Poirier?

UFC 269 went down last Saturday night (Dec. 11, 2021) inside T-Mobile Arena featuring an action-packed night of dominant wins, knockouts and upsets to close out the promotion’s pay-per-view (PPV) slate for the year.

Plenty of fighters were left feeling the post-fight blue including Amanda Nunes, who lost her status as champ-champ after losing her bantamweight title to Julianna Pena, who forced her to tap to a rear-naked choke (see it).

And Cody Garbrandt, who was knocked out by Kai Kara France in his flyweight debut, giving him his fifth loss in last six fights (recap). But which fighter is suffering from one of the worst post-fight hangovers, now a few days removed from the show?

Dustin Poirier.

Over two years removed from his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Poirier was right back in the big dance with the opportunity to become the undisputed champion of the division. Poirier had already tasted UFC gold before, though that was on an interim basis. While an impressive feat, that’s now what Poirier got into the game for.

He started off strong, pushing the pace and tagging Charles Oliveira early on, dropping him on a few occasions along the way. In the process, “Diamond” took some of the champ’s best shots, as well. Early in round three, though, Poirier found himself with a human anaconda wrapped around his back, and at the point most everyone knew what was coming because Oliveira has made a living suffocating people, winning 19 of his fights via submission, 16 of them via some form of a choke.

A few moments later, Oliveira had his twentieth submission win, forcing Poirier to tap to a, you guessed it, standing rear-naked choke. For Poirier, it’s only his second loss in five years, both championship fights.

The loss leaves him in limbo as to what he wants to do moving forward in his combat career.

“I can do anything I put my mind to. I can fight for another belt. I can go on another streak. I can claw and climb,” said Poirier about working his way back to a title fight. “Get back to wherever I want to be. It’s just … do I want to? That’s the question I have to look in the mirror and answer. Do I want to do it again, do I want to go down that road again.

“And that answer will come in the next couple days, next couple of weeks. Just have to let this pass and see what’s next for me. But if it’s in my heart and that’s what I want to do, I’ll be back in here fighting for another world title.”

If after a few weeks Poirier decides he wants to keep chugging along, perhaps a fight against Michael Chandler is in order. Chandler also has a loss to Oliveira and was most recently seen losing to Justin Gaethje. A win against Chandler would be a great way for Poirer to expedite the healing process and his road back to yet another title fight.

If Poirier doesn’t believe that fight helps his bottom line, then why not re-book him to fight Nate Diaz? “Diamond” was forced out of their first fight due to injury, and the two have been taking shots at one another ever since. It’s an easy sell and a challenge that would get both competitors up in the morning.