Dustin Poirier has admitted he does not need to work another day in his life following his retirement from the UFC, but the former lightweight title contender has been upfront about at least one habit he still needs to address.
“I need to stop gambling,” Poirier said in a new interview on The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, recalling a recent conversation with his wife. “She was like, ‘I just paid some bills. I saw you made another deposit to the gambling thing.’ I was like, I can’t cold turkey everything. Give me one. Let’s go one thing at a time. One thing, gambling’s a couple steps up on the list.”
The 37-year-old retired on July 30 last year in his home state of Louisiana. Despite the financial hardships that end many athletes’ careers, Poirier says he built a solid foundation by investing early and planning ahead.
“I started investing when I was 23 years old, before I was even making real real money,” he said. “I always planted seeds cuz I knew I couldn’t compete forever.”
These financial reflections came during a conversation about a turbulent stretch following his retirement. On Father’s Day, Poirier was arrested at Atlanta airport after drinking and getting into a confrontation with airline staff. He has since deleted all social media and committed to cutting out drinking entirely.
“I’ve always had a bad relationship with al**hol,” he said. “90% of the times if I do drink, I’m going to drink to be the best at drinking. I’m going to drink more than everybody.”
Poirier connected the airport incident in part to his concern for his father, who has struggled with a**ohol dependency throughout his life and is currently without a home.
“Part of me getting in trouble at the airport was I just felt, it’s not my weight to carry, but I try to help him out and he’s back out on the street. It’s like it almost doesn’t want help,” he said.
The retired athlete said he has returned to therapy and is focused on maintaining the mental health practices that helped him get through a difficult period several years ago.
“It’s not something that you just fix. It’s something you have to work on always,” he said.
His wife who dropped out of nursing school and relocated to South Florida to support his career, has stood by him throughout. Poirier said the conversation he had with her after the arrest was among the hardest of his life.
“I just keep apologizing and it’ll never happen again,” he said.
