Dustin Poirier says he will be moving to welterweight if he claims the lightweight title at UFC 269 on December 11 in Las Vegas.
Poirier is set to headline the pay-per-view card against the lightweight champ, Charles Oliveira in an intriguing scrap. It’s the second chance “The Diamond” has of becoming the undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Although he is only 32-years-old, there have been rumblings that with a win, Poirier would retire from the sport. However, he says that won’t happen, instead, he believes he will likely move up a weight class to welterweight.
“No, I’m not retiring. I’m 32, man. I feel good. You see the way I’m moving out here today. I feel good. I’m having fun. If anything, I’ll go up. I’ll probably go to 170, if anything,” Poirier told MMAJunkie. “But no, honestly, my goal isn’t to try to have the most successful title defenses. I don’t know. We’ll see. One day at a time. I can’t look, none of that is even a reality until December 11th happens, and I get my hand raised. I have to do that first before we can even go into these conversations because I don’t know what’s next. I live my life one day at a time, man; a quarter-mile at a time.”
Dustin Poirier is coming off back-to-back stoppage wins over Conor McGregor this year which has earned him the fight against Oliveira. It should be a relatively competitive fight, and for The Diamond, he believes it will come down to who wants it more.
“I would love to for the fight to reach that point where we all find out in front of the world,” Poirier added. “That’s the goal of mine to get this fight into those deep waters and see who really wants it more, see who is willing to bleed more and leave it all out there because I know I will. No question about it.”
