Dustin Poirier unsure what's next in UFC career, waiting for 'the right name' to fight

Dustin Poirier wants a name that excites him.

His most recent opponent Justin Gaethje fit the bill, but Poirier (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) lost their “BMF” title bout by knockout at UFC 291 in July. Poirier won their first fight in 2018 by TKO, in what was one of the best fights of the year.

“What I do is high risk, high reward, and anything can happen on any night,” Poirier told MMA Mania. “But I knew that going into this fight. That’s the reason I accepted this fight. I knew that he’s a dangerous opponent, and I knew anything can happen and that got me up in the morning. That’s what fighting is.”

The former interim lightweight champion doesn’t have any immediate goals, and is just waiting for the right offer to emerge. He plans on keeping his weight low until he gets the call.

“I don’t really have a whole lot of plans,” Poirier said. “I’m just kind of sitting back, training, trying to remain a student, and when the phone rings with the right name, I’ll know it’s the one. We’ll take it from there. I’m not trying to over-plan or have this comeback story or anything like that.

“I’m just trying to get better, and when they call with the right one that excites me, that’s dangerous, that wakes me up and really makes me want to give this 100 percent – it’s not that I don’t give it 100 percent (already) – but something that really, really motivates me, (I’ll take it).”

Poirier lauded lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for his impressive knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294, but also praised Volkanovski for taking the short-notice fight. Poirier also received the short-notice call to step in against Makhachev which he accepted, but the UFC ultimately chose Volkanovski.

“Incredible performance by Islam and incredible self-belief and commitment from Alexander Volkanovski to take it on short notice and go out there and put it on the line in front of the world – exactly what I just said a while ago talking about the Gaethje fight,” Poirier said.

“We know that anything can happen at any time when we sign our names on those contracts against dangerous opponents, and the world is going to be watching. So you just have to try your best to take it in stride even though sometimes it hurts.”