My father was a fighter. My grandfather was a fighter. It's just in my blood.
— Dustin Poirier
That grit of fighting is addictive, I'm scared of it. It's a very weird thing.
I'm not a matchmaker, I don't know the logic behind the decisions they make.
I think I fought my first fight in Zuffa in 2010.
Normal pain is no problem, that just comes with the job.
I'm a complete fighter and I'm not scared, I'm very willing to use every part of the game to get the win by any means necessary.
I want to fight the fights that fans want to see.
I want to fight for the real belt, not the interim title.
This sport is a crazy thing, and what happens, it's unpredictable.
Winning solves everything.
It's MMA. Anything can happen. Nothing's for sure.
I'm not a quitter, man. Just look at my history.
People I grew up with, my family, work in the oil fields. Everyone works a labor job - construction, concrete. All we know is work. It's a physical culture.
I think a lot of fighters are cutting way too much weight.
I probably should have been fighting at 155 for a long time, but I was so close to the top at 145.
Fighting comes down to who you are as a person. With B.J. Penn, he has no problems, not a hard upbringing and came up with money or whatever and he's just a fighter, he enjoys the fight and he refined his skills so I don't think it necessarily has to be a rough upbringing for guys to be great fighters.
There's always the pressure to win. That never goes away, but being a main event, I want to go out there and put on a great show for the fans and live up to being a main event. That doesn't really stress me out or pressure me anymore. The fight is enough.
Fighting is what I do.
Seven years is a long time, and seven years of fighting the best guys in the best organization in the world, the biggest organization in the world, it hardens you. You don't stay seven years without evolving. It doesn't happen.
When I'm in south Florida I'm training, resting, training. I'm working on my craft out here, very tediously. That's what I come out here for.
The way I feel, I'm the best in the world.
If you're training for a fight, you're going to be pretty much, there's going to be days where you're hurting.
I'm chasing gold. And whatever fight can get me closer to being a world champion, those are the fights that I want.
The cut made me hate the process of getting ready for a fight. I was focused on how to make weight instead of how to beat my opponent.
Now I'm with the American Top Team, I'm a better fighter, I'm a more patient fighter, I've improved in every aspect.
Those deep, dog fights - I love that. That's why I fight.
My goal and path is always to get to the mountaintop and be a world champion, and leave a fighting legacy.
Grit, determination, the right amount of crazy, self belief - everything it takes to be a champion. I have that.
It's not hard to look great against a guy who isn't moving a lot.
I come from south Louisiana where everyone has a blue-collar work ethic.
Yeah I do think featherweight is done for me. It sucks because I worked hard and fought a lot of hard fights and did a lot of things right to move up the rankings and I have to abandon all that moving to 155 starting fresh.
I'm proud of everything I accomplished in this sport.
No matter where I came from, I'm a fighter.
I don't talk bad about people who I roll with.
My dream is to be the best fighter at 155 pounds in the world.
I've said it before, I'm not a matchmaker, I don't call the shots. I just prepare and fight the guys after I sign the contract.
I'm the kind of guy that grows, and that's what I do everyday in the gym. Work on new stuff and stay relevant.
I've just been in a lot of big fights, and I've been in some good spots and some bad spots.
Of course every fighter, whether they admit it or not, they have aches and pains and they go into fights hurt.
I'm not really chasing rematches.
If a champ has to take a long layoff then I think that's the only time interim titles should be introduced to the division.
I'm not the same fighter I used to be.
I feel like everybody's who fighting, young fighters and still learning and growing, that should be their goal - to be the UFC world champion.
Fighting, you have to be selfish.
I knew I had the ability to become a world champion, I knew I did. I knew I just needed the opportunity.
Win or lose or draw, you always go back and critique your performance and say you could have done things better. Even if I put the guy away in one round, I can go back and say I made a lot of mistakes and need to tighten up. But that's the type of person I am. Improve. Improve. Improve. When I lose I come back stronger than ever.
Every fight is like a different landscape of what you go through. But sometimes it's small injuries. Sometimes it's lessons you walk away with. Every fight is different but they all hurt, for sure.
Cutting to featherweight took months of intense weight cutting and training. Going to lightweight, I can fight more often.
I'm not fighting just to fight. I'm fighting to be the world champ.
You can't just be only going to the gym when you sign a fight contract or you'll just be the same fighter every time, just more experienced.
