Dustin Poirier says retirement might not be permanent if the UFC comes calling with a fourth fight against Conor McGregor.
Poirier, who retired in 2025 after a bout with Max Holloway, revealed he would consider jumping back into the USADA pool and getting licensed if a McGregor quadrilogy was on the table. “If it was realistic and they called me and said, ‘Hey,’ I would probably get back in the drug-testing protocol and get licensed again, yeah,” Poirier said.
McGregor is currently booked to headline UFC 329 on July 11 against Holloway, his first fight back since breaking his leg in a loss to Poirier at UFC 264.
Poirier believes McGregor remains dangerous ahead of the Holloway matchup. “I think the punching power’s going to be there regardless. Conor’s going to come back from the injury and still have that natural punching power. The question for me is the timing, the athleticism, the movement, all those questions need to be answered. I don’t know. We haven’t seen him, so I don’t know. If his counter-punching and his timing is anywhere near what it was, he has a chance to beat Max.”
Away from the cage, Poirier says his life has shifted. “It’s a different life,” he explained. “I grew up in the fight game, so my whole life was fighting... Now I’m waking up and just being a dad, running business, life’s different.”
Poirier added that he still has “six or seven” fights remaining on his UFC contract and admits the competitive fire hasn’t fully faded.
