Name: Dustin Poirier Gets Real About the Challenging Times After His Toughest Loss
Uploaded: 2024-04-09T22:29:49.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dustin Poirier Gets Real About the Challenging Times After His Toughest Loss' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-04-09. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dustin Poirier Gets Real About the Challenging Times After His Toughest Loss' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-04-09. Transcript available.

I got to be busy, man. That's my thing. Like, I got to be busy. If I'm not
getting ready to fight
somebody, and I've said this a thousand times, I have to have some kind of
obstacle, you know,
in front of me. So if I'm trying to do movies or grow my businesses, I just
need to be in action,
you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's how you feel? Have to. Yeah. You just, there's no,
if you get
complacent or if you, why, what? I'm like, it's honestly, bro, I'm a danger to
myself when I'm
having nothing. No, no goal circling on my calendar. I'm a danger to myself,
man.
Yeah. Yeah. I beat myself up mentally. I'm home. I drink. I'm, it's just not
good. I have to have
some kind of battle. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. And I've always been like that, but like,
as I'm getting
older, I'm kind of recognizing. Oh, you can see it more. Yeah. So I kind of set,
set goals. So I
stay busy, you know? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I know in the
last, uh, yeah,
I know whenever you came off of, um, the Gaethje fight, you were kind of in a
tough spot, I guess,
at times. Oh, big time, man. That was probably like one of the lowest points of
my life.
My life, you know, mentally, I really felt down. Did you feel like, so, because
now you're
in a place that feels different. Yeah. Back in the wind column, everything
feels like it's,
it's in emotion. Like it should be, you know, I just felt out of, uh, out of
sync with life
after that last fight. Yeah. Do you think that it's like, um, because yeah, I'll
like a lot
of times determine how I feel about myself based on what is happening, like in
my career or in my, uh,
social life sometimes, or how I think people are perceiving me, you know, like,
do you notice for yourself, was any of that like about, did you feel like you
were depressed? Did
you feel like it was like, like, were you able to get any perspective on like
what made you feel bad
kind of, or? No, I don't think I like pinpointed what really brought me down.
Obviously getting
kicked in the head wasn't good, but, uh, sorry. Yeah. But, uh, I didn't want to
laugh, but God just
made me laugh. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it was just a lot of things, you know? And like,
I think I might've
text you after as well, after that fight, like I worked so hard to like build
myself up and be
successful and have a career and fighting stuff, you know? And I feel like I've
got myself to a point
where I'm respected by my peers and fighting and stuff like that. And I feel
like when I got home
from that loss, it was like the world is just going to throw me away. Remember
when I text you that,
that's how I felt. It's like, I worked so hard and in one night you feel like,
boom, everybody's
throwing you away now, you know, like everything I've done before that feels
like it doesn't matter.
You know, it just sucks. It was like a bad place to be in, in myself, you know,
waking up every
morning. I was just not happy. I wonder what makes us feel like that. Cause I
can totally relate to
that, man. Like if it doesn't go good, then I don't have, I'm not worth
anything. Right.
I just feel, is that what it felt like? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in fighting, you're
like,
they say you're only as good as your last fight. And then that's, that's where
the world thinks about
you, your last performance, you know, getting knocked out after I built myself
up so long,
so many crazy fights and you know, the struggle and the grind to get there. It
just feels like
boom. Now everybody's looking at me like that and just throwing me away.
Damn. But that's why I put my nose to the grindstone this last one and went out
there and touched that
guy up. Yeah. Yeah. And what it is. So like when you, when you start like if,
cause I think so many
people can relate to that, man. I mean, I totally can. Like I remember we were
kind of texting about
it. Like, yeah, like I would pin so many of my, uh, like who I feel like I am
on how I do.
Right. Right. Or like, um, but then I'll start feeling like, like, how did you,
uh,
like how, like, how did you notice when it got like too hectic or did you, um,
what did you do to
start to turn that around? You know, my, my wife really helped me out through
this last one. Um,
putting things in perspective, like, like we were saying, you feel like the
fight is your life, but
it's just something I do. You know, I'm a, a father, a husband, a friend, a
business owner,
a son, a brother. That's who I am. Fighting is just something I do, you know?
So if you put in
perspective like that and I kind of switched my, my mindset of like, everything's
an experience,
you know, I'm thankful I got to experience that fight week and the, and the
downs and the ups of
fight week and losing sucks. But I got to fly home in a different perspective,
looking back, you know,
because like losing sucks, especially when you work so hard and fighting's like,
everything's into it.
You know, I put myself into this for real. Oh yeah. I remember sitting in your
green room
after we were all sitting in there. Oh yeah. And literally it was like,
it felt like we were at a funeral in a weird way, but you were right there.
Yeah. It just felt like
everybody felt everybody. I told everybody that in there. I said, this ain't a
funeral.
You're like, yeah, yeah. You're going around trying to boost people's youth.
Yeah. You're like,
Hey, I'm, I'm, you put on a black suit and stuff. Yeah. I don't even know where
you got it.
We're all singing. I can still hear mama pray. Somebody stood up and was like,
he was a good man. I'm like, I'm right here, bro. I'm right here.
Yeah. I think that was somebody trying to flirt with your wife. Yeah. I don't
know.
That might've been Sabah, your buddy. Oh yeah. The demon. Yeah. Yeah.
It could have been the demon. He definitely, uh, he loves to meet a lady, but
you know what,
you know what taking, uh, that last loss would really switch my mindset, man is,
uh,
I know who I am like losing. You find out who you are and, and losing sucks.
But in those moments,
like when you're down, it's a great time to experience you, you know, cause
like when you're
winning, you can get this momentum when things, everything's going good. You
can kind of get in
that groove where you're just on cruise control, you know, but when you lose
and the phone stops
ringing and you're at home laying in bed, going to sleep by yourself and
everything, the dust settles,
you know, that's when you experience yourself, who you really are, you know?
And I think that's
important, you know? Yeah. Was that tough? Did you like, what are you? Cause
that's,
yeah, that's scary. Cause every moment of silence thing, you kind of like, if
something like that
happens to me, like I have something that's not good or feels like it's not
good. I don't get the
outcome that I want any silence I hear after that. I always just, it feels like,
yeah, that, uh,
nothing's like, it feels like the phone isn't ringing, but even it's just
silence. It's just
normal silence. But in my head, I feel like, oh, the phone ain't ringing. You
know, that's when
reality really sits in, sets in, you know, like when you're around a bunch of
people after,
after a loss and you're talking and everybody's, you know, keeping you busy,
your mind's busy,
but then you go back to your house and you're by yourself, you know, and you
look in the mirror and it's just
you like, that's when it's real. Yeah. Yeah. That's when the phone's not
ringing. Yeah.
What, uh, yeah. How rough did it get? Like, was there, was there moments where
you're like,
okay, I got to get some help. Like, what did you kind of help? Did you get?
I started doing therapy. I want to speak to a therapist. Yeah. There was some
nights where
I would just, I just got up and left my house. Like I just, I couldn't be here.
I just got up and
left my house and went to get a hotel room, you know, got in my truck and just
left, you know, and
I don't know why I don't have any reason why I just felt like I had to, it was
crazy, man. I was going
through it. Yeah. Yeah. And do you think it was just that you were feeling like,
like, would, was
some of it like, like met like medical or CTE related, do you think, or do you
have, like, do you
have any perspective on like what it was kind of, or do you think it was just,
I mean, it could have been
all of that, you know, I definitely have head trauma. I have 50 fights and, uh,
yeah. And you
were, yeah. And you're from fricking Youngsville from Lafayette. Yeah. Sorry.
Sorry. Sorry. Yeah.
But yeah, we all have head trauma. I mean, look, bro, you born in Louisiana.
Yeah. You come out
with head trauma, bro. That's on the report. Yeah. I'm sure I, it could have
been all that. I don't
know. You know, I just wasn't in a good spot, but I'm good now. That's what
matters, you know?
And what about medication or something? Like I take, I was off antidepressants
for a while. I try,
cause I was trying to not take them. And then I got, I was like, I just can't
do this right now.
Life's too much. I'm going to get on them. I guess I'm back on right now. Um,
but did you have,
did you ever try any medication or is that something that a lot of UFC fighters
do or what is that like?
I'm not sure. I mean, like the prep, we're such tough guys fighting. We don't
really talk about that
in the locker room or in the gym. We don't talk about like, I'm feeling down.
It's just shut the hell up
and work. You know, we got work to do. You got to fight to win. We don't, we
don't sit around and
hold hands and talk about, I'm not feeling well today. Yeah. You're right. That's
your point.
It would be nice if we opened up and kind of, cause I'm sure a lot of people
are going through it and
not talking about it, but I've never been like shied away from telling people
how I feel and stuff
like that. So I don't care. I will talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
feel like you try to share
when you can about what's going on. And I think that's one thing that's so
interesting about kind
of what the past, like year of your life has been like, is that you were in a
space where things were
so tough and you were having a tough time and then you get a victory and some
of that goes away,
but some of it may still stick around. So then you get some better perspective
as to what that's like,
you know? Yeah. It's just the highs and lows. Like losing is the lowest of the
low. Then you win
on pay-per-view, knock a guy out and you're back on the mountaintop. It's just
what a roller coaster
this is fighting, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I'm thankful for it all though. You
know, it's given me every,
given me my family, everything we have. Yeah. So I'm thankful for it, the good
and the bad,
but I wouldn't recommend anybody seek this as a career. Really? No.
Be a doc, go to school. Huh? Yeah. Go to school, go to college or something.
Yeah. And now that you
have like a win and you've had, and you're, it's a good place and it, it takes,
it like
silences some of that self-critic in our head and some of that even fictional
critique from other
people that some of it may be there and some of it may not. Yeah. Uh, do you,
do you want to,
do you feel like, do I want to risk that again? Like, do you think about that
at all? Yeah, I do.
Like, where am I at if I, it doesn't go my way, which is likely, you know, it's
fighting. Uh,
I think I can, I know I can beat anybody in the world. I believe in my skills,
but the margin for error out there is one mistake. You wake up asking what
happened. You know,
you think you're, you're going to the school bus stop, you know, you wake up
like, I'm late for
school. No, no, no, you dropped out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. That's too many
dustins not in school
jokes. Um, what was it like to get, thanks for talking about it with me too,
man. Oh, of course.
What was it like to get like, um, cause if you were going through like, uh, uh,
if there were some real tough, some of your toughest times after, uh, the Gaethje
fight,
right before the BSD fight, how, what was it that made you able to stay in like,
get ready for that next fight? Cause that's a space where I honestly, I think a
lot of people
can relate to in their lives. Like, like God, like, I don't feel,
I don't feel great right here. Or, you know, there's something in my life that's
not perfect,
or that's not the way I wish it to be. That's not my will, you know, and how to
get ready then for
something still that's important. Like we were talking about earlier, I think
just having a name,
having a date to circle on my calendar kind of put me in the right direction
mentally. Like I knew I had
something to work towards. It was a big challenge. It's a fight. It's what I've
been doing my whole
life. Like that kind of put me back on the track where I needed to be.
Obviously practicing
mindfulness and speaking to therapy and talking to my wife and stuff like that
was helping along the
way. But whenever I got the name and the date for this next fight, everything's
kind of clicked
into, all right, this is what, what I need to be doing. Wow. Yeah. It really
drowned it out all the,
the idleness of sitting at home or overthinking, you know, I had such a big
challenge in front of me
that that's all I focused on the everything else like blinders. That's what,
that's how fighting
is for me. You know, is that part of the reasons why you also took that fight
you think? Cause you're
like, yeah, you're like, I need a goal right now. Yeah. Wow. I was in the spot.
It just happened.
They called where I was in the spot of my life, like, and mentally in a place
where whatever name they
called with, I would say, yes, I just needed to challenge, you know, cause I
needed to be at war
with something else besides myself. Cause I was fighting myself every day. Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.

Dustin Poirier Gets Real About the Challenging Times After His Toughest Loss

I got to be busy, man. That's my thing. Like, I got to be busy. If I'm not
getting ready to fight
somebody, and I've said this a thousand times, I have to have some kind of
obstacle, you know,
in front of me. So if I'm trying to do movies or grow my businesses, I just
need to be in action,
you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's how you feel? Have to. Yeah. You just, there's no,
if you get
complacent or if you, why, what? I'm like, it's honestly, bro, I'm a danger to
myself when I'm
having nothing. No, no goal circling on my calendar. I'm a danger to myself,
man.
Yeah. Yeah. I beat myself up mentally. I'm home. I drink. I'm, it's just not
good. I have to have
some kind of battle. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. And I've always been like that, but like,
as I'm getting
older, I'm kind of recognizing. Oh, you can see it more. Yeah. So I kind of set,
set goals. So I
stay busy, you know? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I know in the
last, uh, yeah,
I know whenever you came off of, um, the Gaethje fight, you were kind of in a
tough spot, I guess,
at times. Oh, big time, man. That was probably like one of the lowest points of
my life.
My life, you know, mentally, I really felt down. Did you feel like, so, because
now you're
in a place that feels different. Yeah. Back in the wind column, everything
feels like it's,
it's in emotion. Like it should be, you know, I just felt out of, uh, out of
sync with life
after that last fight. Yeah. Do you think that it's like, um, because yeah, I'll
like a lot
of times determine how I feel about myself based on what is happening, like in
my career or in my, uh,
social life sometimes, or how I think people are perceiving me, you know, like,
do you notice for yourself, was any of that like about, did you feel like you
were depressed? Did
you feel like it was like, like, were you able to get any perspective on like
what made you feel bad
kind of, or? No, I don't think I like pinpointed what really brought me down.
Obviously getting
kicked in the head wasn't good, but, uh, sorry. Yeah. But, uh, I didn't want to
laugh, but God just
made me laugh. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, it was just a lot of things, you know? And like,
I think I might've
text you after as well, after that fight, like I worked so hard to like build
myself up and be
successful and have a career and fighting stuff, you know? And I feel like I've
got myself to a point
where I'm respected by my peers and fighting and stuff like that. And I feel
like when I got home
from that loss, it was like the world is just going to throw me away. Remember
when I text you that,
that's how I felt. It's like, I worked so hard and in one night you feel like,
boom, everybody's
throwing you away now, you know, like everything I've done before that feels
like it doesn't matter.
You know, it just sucks. It was like a bad place to be in, in myself, you know,
waking up every
morning. I was just not happy. I wonder what makes us feel like that. Cause I
can totally relate to
that, man. Like if it doesn't go good, then I don't have, I'm not worth
anything. Right.
I just feel, is that what it felt like? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in fighting, you're
like,
they say you're only as good as your last fight. And then that's, that's where
the world thinks about
you, your last performance, you know, getting knocked out after I built myself
up so long,
so many crazy fights and you know, the struggle and the grind to get there. It
just feels like
boom. Now everybody's looking at me like that and just throwing me away.
Damn. But that's why I put my nose to the grindstone this last one and went out
there and touched that
guy up. Yeah. Yeah. And what it is. So like when you, when you start like if,
cause I think so many
people can relate to that, man. I mean, I totally can. Like I remember we were
kind of texting about
it. Like, yeah, like I would pin so many of my, uh, like who I feel like I am
on how I do.
Right. Right. Or like, um, but then I'll start feeling like, like, how did you,
uh,
like how, like, how did you notice when it got like too hectic or did you, um,
what did you do to
start to turn that around? You know, my, my wife really helped me out through
this last one. Um,
putting things in perspective, like, like we were saying, you feel like the
fight is your life, but
it's just something I do. You know, I'm a, a father, a husband, a friend, a
business owner,
a son, a brother. That's who I am. Fighting is just something I do, you know?
So if you put in
perspective like that and I kind of switched my, my mindset of like, everything's
an experience,
you know, I'm thankful I got to experience that fight week and the, and the
downs and the ups of
fight week and losing sucks. But I got to fly home in a different perspective,
looking back, you know,
because like losing sucks, especially when you work so hard and fighting's like,
everything's into it.
You know, I put myself into this for real. Oh yeah. I remember sitting in your
green room
after we were all sitting in there. Oh yeah. And literally it was like,
it felt like we were at a funeral in a weird way, but you were right there.
Yeah. It just felt like
everybody felt everybody. I told everybody that in there. I said, this ain't a
funeral.
You're like, yeah, yeah. You're going around trying to boost people's youth.
Yeah. You're like,
Hey, I'm, I'm, you put on a black suit and stuff. Yeah. I don't even know where
you got it.
We're all singing. I can still hear mama pray. Somebody stood up and was like,
he was a good man. I'm like, I'm right here, bro. I'm right here.
Yeah. I think that was somebody trying to flirt with your wife. Yeah. I don't
know.
That might've been Sabah, your buddy. Oh yeah. The demon. Yeah. Yeah.
It could have been the demon. He definitely, uh, he loves to meet a lady, but
you know what,
you know what taking, uh, that last loss would really switch my mindset, man is,
uh,
I know who I am like losing. You find out who you are and, and losing sucks.
But in those moments,
like when you're down, it's a great time to experience you, you know, cause
like when you're
winning, you can get this momentum when things, everything's going good. You
can kind of get in
that groove where you're just on cruise control, you know, but when you lose
and the phone stops
ringing and you're at home laying in bed, going to sleep by yourself and
everything, the dust settles,
you know, that's when you experience yourself, who you really are, you know?
And I think that's
important, you know? Yeah. Was that tough? Did you like, what are you? Cause
that's,
yeah, that's scary. Cause every moment of silence thing, you kind of like, if
something like that
happens to me, like I have something that's not good or feels like it's not
good. I don't get the
outcome that I want any silence I hear after that. I always just, it feels like,
yeah, that, uh,
nothing's like, it feels like the phone isn't ringing, but even it's just
silence. It's just
normal silence. But in my head, I feel like, oh, the phone ain't ringing. You
know, that's when
reality really sits in, sets in, you know, like when you're around a bunch of
people after,
after a loss and you're talking and everybody's, you know, keeping you busy,
your mind's busy,
but then you go back to your house and you're by yourself, you know, and you
look in the mirror and it's just
you like, that's when it's real. Yeah. Yeah. That's when the phone's not
ringing. Yeah.
What, uh, yeah. How rough did it get? Like, was there, was there moments where
you're like,
okay, I got to get some help. Like, what did you kind of help? Did you get?
I started doing therapy. I want to speak to a therapist. Yeah. There was some
nights where
I would just, I just got up and left my house. Like I just, I couldn't be here.
I just got up and
left my house and went to get a hotel room, you know, got in my truck and just
left, you know, and
I don't know why I don't have any reason why I just felt like I had to, it was
crazy, man. I was going
through it. Yeah. Yeah. And do you think it was just that you were feeling like,
like, would, was
some of it like, like met like medical or CTE related, do you think, or do you
have, like, do you
have any perspective on like what it was kind of, or do you think it was just,
I mean, it could have been
all of that, you know, I definitely have head trauma. I have 50 fights and, uh,
yeah. And you
were, yeah. And you're from fricking Youngsville from Lafayette. Yeah. Sorry.
Sorry. Sorry. Yeah.
But yeah, we all have head trauma. I mean, look, bro, you born in Louisiana.
Yeah. You come out
with head trauma, bro. That's on the report. Yeah. I'm sure I, it could have
been all that. I don't
know. You know, I just wasn't in a good spot, but I'm good now. That's what
matters, you know?
And what about medication or something? Like I take, I was off antidepressants
for a while. I try,
cause I was trying to not take them. And then I got, I was like, I just can't
do this right now.
Life's too much. I'm going to get on them. I guess I'm back on right now. Um,
but did you have,
did you ever try any medication or is that something that a lot of UFC fighters
do or what is that like?
I'm not sure. I mean, like the prep, we're such tough guys fighting. We don't
really talk about that
in the locker room or in the gym. We don't talk about like, I'm feeling down.
It's just shut the hell up
and work. You know, we got work to do. You got to fight to win. We don't, we
don't sit around and
hold hands and talk about, I'm not feeling well today. Yeah. You're right. That's
your point.
It would be nice if we opened up and kind of, cause I'm sure a lot of people
are going through it and
not talking about it, but I've never been like shied away from telling people
how I feel and stuff
like that. So I don't care. I will talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
feel like you try to share
when you can about what's going on. And I think that's one thing that's so
interesting about kind
of what the past, like year of your life has been like, is that you were in a
space where things were
so tough and you were having a tough time and then you get a victory and some
of that goes away,
but some of it may still stick around. So then you get some better perspective
as to what that's like,
you know? Yeah. It's just the highs and lows. Like losing is the lowest of the
low. Then you win
on pay-per-view, knock a guy out and you're back on the mountaintop. It's just
what a roller coaster
this is fighting, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I'm thankful for it all though. You
know, it's given me every,
given me my family, everything we have. Yeah. So I'm thankful for it, the good
and the bad,
but I wouldn't recommend anybody seek this as a career. Really? No.
Be a doc, go to school. Huh? Yeah. Go to school, go to college or something.
Yeah. And now that you
have like a win and you've had, and you're, it's a good place and it, it takes,
it like
silences some of that self-critic in our head and some of that even fictional
critique from other
people that some of it may be there and some of it may not. Yeah. Uh, do you,
do you want to,
do you feel like, do I want to risk that again? Like, do you think about that
at all? Yeah, I do.
Like, where am I at if I, it doesn't go my way, which is likely, you know, it's
fighting. Uh,
I think I can, I know I can beat anybody in the world. I believe in my skills,
but the margin for error out there is one mistake. You wake up asking what
happened. You know,
you think you're, you're going to the school bus stop, you know, you wake up
like, I'm late for
school. No, no, no, you dropped out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. That's too many
dustins not in school
jokes. Um, what was it like to get, thanks for talking about it with me too,
man. Oh, of course.
What was it like to get like, um, cause if you were going through like, uh, uh,
if there were some real tough, some of your toughest times after, uh, the Gaethje
fight,
right before the BSD fight, how, what was it that made you able to stay in