Dustin Poirier on fighting with emotion: McGregor ‘really messed with my head’

 

Dustin
Poirier is once again on the cusp of title contention. No, not at
featherweight. This time around, he’s rebuilt himself as a standout
lightweight fighter, with wins over Carlos Diego Ferreira, Yancy
Medeiros, Joe Duffy, and most recently Bobby Green. The Green fight was
especially impressive.

Bobby Green is a longtime, top tier vet,
the kind of fighter who only tends to lose to other very good
competition, and even in his losses has tended to be a very tough out.
Poirier walked through him in just under 3 minutes of the first round.
It was the first KO loss of Green’s career, and a win that really
solidified Poirier’s rebuilding process.

Although he didn’t quite
put it that way himself, Poirier alluded as much in a recent interview
with FloCombat. In the interview he talked about (among other things)
his tendency to fight with emotion and how it cost him against Conor
McGregor and made him rethink his approach:

“I’ve always been an
emotional fighter and that emotion fueled a lot of my early
performances,” Poirier says as he places his coffee back on the table
top. “I would get angry because I’m about to step in there and go
toe-to-toe with someone who is trying to hurt me just like I intend to
hurt them, and that energy shifts gears into that kill or be killed
mindset.

“I always saw it as a plus but the Conor [McGregor]
fight was the turning point. I remember I was backstage getting ready to
walk out and I saw him and he threw this smile and pointed at me. I
don’t know why but it really got to me, man. It really messed with my
head. I mean I’m about to go out and fight this dude and he’s back there
smiling at me? After that fight I knew I had to find a different way to
use my emotion.”

And while that may have been something of an
Achilles heel for him in the past, Poirier pointed to his latest success
as a sign of just how far he’s come.

“Put it this way, Bobby
Green tried to do the exact same sh**,” Poirier says leaning back in the
booth. “And it didn’t work out too well for him.”

Poirier is
currently without a fight, as the top of the lightweight division looks
to be sorting itself out with a bunch of ranked fighter matchups. That
should leave “the Diamond” in good position to get a high profile fight
coming off a win in the near future. There’s plenty more in the Flo
Combat piece, including Poirier’s plans for a cooking show, so check the
whole thing out.