When Dustin Poirier arrived in the UFC in 2011, the champions included names like Cain Velasquez, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Frankie Edgar.
In fact, outside of Jon Jones and Jose Aldo, every single fighter who held a title in the UFC when Poirier debuted is either retired or no longer in the UFC. Now as the 36-year-old veteran prepares to make the walk one final time with his retirement fight booked against Max Holloway at UFC 318 in July, Poirier recognizes that he’s preparing to hand the keys to the kingdom over to the next generation of fighters just like the legends who came before him did after he arrived in the UFC.
“I think we’re in a changing of the guard,” Poirier said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I got to see the era before me that I was growing up [watching], I was a fan of these guys like Georges St-Pierre, B.J. Penn, Chuck Liddell.
“I got to kind of see that get transitioned out to this new era. I think we’re going through a little bit of that now.”
While some older fighters like Alexander Volkanovski are still finding ways to defy the odds after he became the first person over the age of 35 to win a title in a division from 155 pounds or below when he reclaimed featherweight gold at UFC 314, the vast majority of athletes in that age group are nearing the end of their careers.
Poirier has actually been teasing plans to hang up his gloves for quite some time but he was adamant about getting one more fight before calling it a career, which now happens in his home state of Louisiana when UFC 318 lands in New Orleans.
He knew this day would eventually come and Poirier suspects there are other UFC legends in a similar position who are likely going to join him in retirement sooner than later.
“I’m on my way out. Justin Gaethje’s on his way out,” Poirier said. “Kamaru Usman has a few left. It’s a changing of the guard right now.”
While veterans like Poirier and Gaethje are nearing the end of their careers, the next generation of fighters are definitely making names for themselves with stars like Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett on the rise.
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