For many years now UFC’s Dustin Poirier has been a top 10 ranked fighter.
Whether fighting at his longtime home of featherweight, or his new home at lightweight, he’s always taken on top ranked competition and put on exciting noteworthy performances, win or lose.
In an era where ONE FC and Bellator exist alongside the UFC, many notable fighters have jumped ship, looking for better opportunity outside of the world’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion.
Just Thursday we learned that Cub Swanson might be off to test the open market, and now Dustin Poirier says promotions like ONE represent a chance to maximize his income potential.
In speaking with FloCombat, the top ranked UFC lightweight stated,
“I love fighting for the UFC. I grew up watching guys in the UFC. It was the biggest company that I know of for mixed martial arts. But as you get older, I have a family, I don’t know how long this window’s going to last. I’d like to fight until I’m 35, 36, we’ll see. But I might have two, three years — I don’t know how many years I have left, so I gotta make the most money that I can right now.
And I’m not a guy who’s fighting for fame. I’m fighting because I love to fight and I got a family to feed. I’m a guy who, if I was given an opportunity, I would leave and go fight in ONE FC, go fight in a company you’ve never heard of to maximize my earning potential. I don’t care if you never read another headline about my name. If I’m collecting checks somewhere and putting on good fights for fans, that’s all I care about.
“I’m not fighting to get my name out there, to get TV deals, to get movie deals, to get big sponsorships. All that stuff is great. I would love all that stuff. But I’m fighting because I love fighting.”
Thoughts?
