Dustin Poirier may be retired, but a fourth fight with Conor McGregor still grabs his attention.
“The Diamond” stepped away from MMA in 2025 after a crowd-pleasing bout with Max Holloway. Since then, Poirier has spoken openly about adjusting to life outside the cage. Still, the former interim lightweight champion admitted there is one matchup that could tempt him back into competition.
Speaking on the Weighing In podcast, Poirier revealed he would seriously consider returning if the UFC offered another fight against McGregor.
McGregor’s comeback brings old rivalry back
The rivalry between Poirier and McGregor remains one of the biggest in UFC history. Their trilogy ended at UFC 264 when McGregor suffered a broken leg in the closing seconds of the first round.
That injury kept McGregor out of action for years. Outside the cage, he also spent time filming the 2024 movie Road House and later withdrew from a scheduled UFC 303 matchup against Michael Chandler due to another injury setback.
Now, McGregor is officially booked for his return at UFC 329 on July 11 against Holloway. Questions continue to surround how the former two-division champion will perform after such a long layoff, but Poirier believes McGregor’s power still makes him dangerous.
“Yeah, I don’t think Conor’s going to look as bad as Nate, that was really bad,”
“I think the punching power’s going to be there regardless.”
Poirier also pointed to the uncertainty surrounding McGregor’s timing and movement after five years away from active competition.
“The question for me is the timing, the athleticism, the movement, all those questions need to be answered,”
Poirier still believes he can compete with the best
While Poirier says retirement has been fulfilling, he admitted the competitive mindset never fully disappears.
He explained that some mornings feel peaceful, while others leave him thinking he still belongs among the UFC elite.
“I grew up in the fight game, so my whole life was fighting. Every day I’d wake up and want to be better, I’d want to work on techniques, and I’d want to get beat up.”
Even with retirement settling in, Poirier still believes he has the ability to beat top fighters if he ever chose to return.
“Some days I wake up and I really feel like this was the right decision, everything’s where it should be, some days I wake up and I want to fight”
“I don’t know if that ever goes. I don’t know if that every leaves. I might be 60 years old thinking the same thing, I don’t know, but I still think I can beat these guys.”