Dustin Poirier (30-10) expressed his frustrations with being “locked in” to his UFC deal, which has prevented him from pursuing boxing.
Poirier described his current status as “purgatory”—retired from MMA but unable to compete in any other discipline without explicit permission from TKO Group Holdings. Poirier’s MMA career ended on July 19, 2025, at UFC 318 after his unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) loss to Max Holloway in their trilogy, as he missed out on the BMF Title. Despite hanging up the gloves, Poirier has been vocal about his desire to test himself in boxing. Poirier reportedly approached the UFC with a proposal for a Zuffa Boxing match against Nate Diaz, but it was unsuccessful.
“Man, I still have fights left in my contract with the UFC. I’m stuck in purgatory, so I can’t go out and do nothing. And if I could, I don’t even know if I would, but boxing has always been something I wanted to do. Bro, I’ve been down this road before. They don’t want any crossover. No. They want to be taken seriously. Plus, if they let one guy do it, every guy and girl on the roster is going to try to do this,” Poirier said