UFC 242, Dustin's Diaries: Thoughts on gameplan vs. Khabib, faceoffs with champ

Dustin Poirier peels back the curtain for MMA Junkie on the road to his UFC 242 title unification bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier blogs for MMA Junkie each week on the road to his UFC 242 title unification bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which takes place Sept. 7 at The Arena in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

In the first edition of “Dustin’s Diaries,” Poirier (25-5 MMA, 17-4 UFC) sheds insight into the first few weeks of his training camp, his press conference encounters with Nurmagomedov (27-0 MMA, 11-0 UFC) and the update on his charity efforts stemming from his last fight and leading into the next one.

* * * *

The latest from training camp

I’m trying to think of the last time I went into a fight with an actual gameplan. It was probably 10 fights ago. I can’t remember the last time I had a gameplan of like, “This is exactly what we need to do.” I don’t do that.

This is my 32nd mixed martial arts fight. I just go to win. Of course, we make notes, and we talk about things my opponents are good at, or things I need to work on, or areas of the fight where we can have success. But I don’t really game plan like that.

I’ve been in Florida for a month or so now. I came out a few days over the 10-week mark from fight day, and I’ve just been slowly focusing more at American Top Team. I don’t like to get off the plane here and jump right into camp. I like to temper myself in and train once a day, then take a day off here and there. Then the following week, I’ll go to the gym twice a day for a few days, then take a day off here or there.

At the eight-week mark, I was really crossing the boxes, and now I’m getting more focused each week. It’s a method I’ve found the past few camps, and it’s really worked for me. We go week to week and try to fix the mistakes we make the week prior, the day prior – just getting better and better and better until fight week.

I was maybe three pounds heavier than I was when I started the last camp, but my weight is dropping off. 155 pounds is hard for me to make. Honestly, it’s not easy at all. I was in the mid-180s starting this camp. I’m not a small guy. It’s tough for me to get down. But I’m with George Lockhart, and I’ve partnered up with a meal company called My Pure Life in South Florida, and everything is on point.

Seeing Khabib

I’ve had to fly out twice for press conferences with Khabib. The first was in London and another in Las Vegas. But it’s not overwhelming. Of course it’s a huge fight, but the build-up feels pretty quiet so far. I prefer it that way, but we’ll see as it gets closer. There’s another pay-per-view before ours starts getting pushed hard, but honestly so far it just feels like another fight.

Khabib carried himself very confidently at the press conference, as he should. He was about as big as I thought he would be in the staredowns. I don’t take a whole lot from that. I’ve seen guys who are cocky as f*ck and loud, and then they tuck their tail between their legs in fights. I’ve seen guys nervous with pit sweat, uncomfortable, and unsure of themselves, then they go in there and look invincible. I don’t take much into that stuff.

Respect is earned, and I think we have a mutual respect from what we’ve both done in our individual careers. It’s two professionals, two badass dudes who know what each other are capable of. We know the work ahead of us, and we’re just respecting the fight. We’re both honoring this and working hard so we can be our best selves on Sept. 7.

The Good Fight Foundation

For the past several fights, I’ve been auctioning off my fight gear through eBay to raise money for my charity, The Good Fight Foundation. We reached our goal set around the Max Holloway fight in April to build a playground for disabled youth at Prairie Elementary School in my hometown of Lafayette, La., and the project is about 90 percent complete.

Prairie Elementary School

I just wanted to express how grateful I am for the people that make all this possible – the people who share the links and the people that donated on the fight kits. There are a lot of moving parts when something like this happens. Of course I get the majority of the attention, but it’s so much more than me. It’s everybody who retweeted, everybody who told somebody about the auction, everybody behind the scenes.

This playground is going to bring smiles to a lot of people’s faces, and it’s really the reason why I’m trying to give back to my community and to help make people smile and be a good person. There’s a huge partnership announcement coming soon that’s going to take The Good Fight Foundation to the next level ahead of the biggest fight of my career.