‘You Can Never Count Him Out’

Confirming plans this week to fight at least once — if not twice more inside the Octagon, Dustin Poirier has been backed to make a return to combat sports by UFC CEO, Dana White, who claims the former interim champion could never be “counted out.

Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion, retains the number four rank in the official divisional rankings, most recently headlining UFC 302 at the beginning of June, dropping a third undisputed championship charge.

Sucumming to a fifth round finish, Lafayette striker, Poirier was submitted in the final round by undisputed champion and pound-for-pound number one, Islam Makhachev in New Jersey, and weighed up potentially retiring from mixed martial arts in the immediate aftermath of the loss.

However, in the months since, the American Top Team mainstay has confirmed plans to fight again in the future — and with the promotion reportedly weighing up a return to his native Lousiana next year, Dustin Poirier claimed he may compete twice in the future.

Dustin Poirier urged to continue fighting by UFC boss, Dana White

Receiving somewhat of a seal of approval from White — who played down a targeted return for former lightweight championship challenger, Donald Cerrone this week to boot, Poirier can never be swept aside from any fight according to the long-time promotional leader.

“Look at what he (Dustin Poirier) did,” Dana White told assembled media following the Contender Series this week. “Everybody was talking about his execution against (Benoit) Saint-Denis, all that sh*t that was talked, and look at what he did. You can never count Poirier out. That’s up to him. He’s going to decide whether he wants to fight or doesn’t want to fight. It’s always up to them — it’s not up to me.”

“But to say, ‘Oh, he should probably walk away right now?’ I don’t know about that,” White explained. “I didn’t think that (Daniel) Cormier should have walked away when he did, but Cormier did. He felt it was time to go, and he did it. He’s moved on, and he’s doing great. Look at the second career he has now — it’s unbelievable. All these other guys, they need to start thinking about that.”