Former interim lightweight champion and fan favorite Dustin Poirier has struggled adjusting to life outside of fighting. “The Diamond” retired from competition following his UFC 318 loss to Max Hollway last July. His struggles were on full display on June 21.
“The Diamond” was removed from a flight for public intoxication at an Atlanta airport and arrested. Video of the incident went viral showing Poirier threatening police officers. A month after the arrest, Poirier say’s he’s ‘good’ and working on himself.
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“Everything is good, man. I’m working on myself day in day out and it’s a thing that’s never fixed, you know? I’ve been dealing with mental stuff for years,” Poirier said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “I’m doing everything I need to do. I have a great support system, and I’m good. Me and my family are good. Everything’s good on my side.”
While the incident was embarrassing and led to lost opportunities, Poirier believes maybe it needed to happen. It ended up being a wakeup call.
“Things happen. We live. We grow, and it’s something that happened that’s going to change my life. I know I’ve said this a few times on different shows, but it’s something that maybe it needed to happen,” Poirier said.
“Now my son, my daughter is never going to see me intoxicated like I saw my father. You know, it’s just they’re breaking a, breaking a family curse and I’m going to be the one to break it. It stops here.”
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“I don’t believe it’s something that’s ever fixed. There’s no eureka moment. There’s no magic pill. There’s no one day you wake up and the mental hurdles are gone. It’s something you have to live with and work on every day. Every single day I have to read and write and do the things that I learned through therapy that made me feel better, that helped me control my thoughts. I just go away from it once I started feeling well mentally,” he said.
