Dustin Poirier

He is married to Jolie Poirier. The couple welcomed their first child in 2016. He shifted to South Florida in pursuit of training at the ATT in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Dustin Glenn Poirier was born on January 19, 1989. He is from Lafayette, Louisiana, US.

According to his official UFC profile, he faced his first fight in 2007. Initially interested in boxing, he landed up training in MMA in his hometown after getting drawn towards the sport.

As an amateur, he earned two belts at 155lbs. He won an 8 man tournament held in Iowa. He is a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a Black belt in Rex Kwon Do.

According to him, he would collect aluminium cans and pick up pecans before foraying into the sport. When asked about his college studies and degrees earned in an UFC interview, he replied “I got a doctorate from the school of hard knocks.”

In 2009 he became pro and engaged in regional promotional fights mainly in Louisiana and the Southern United States and in no time accumulated a 7-0 record.

His debut with the mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion ‘World Extreme Cagefighting’ (WEC) happened at the WEC 50 event on August 18, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. The event saw him losing to Danny Castillo by a unanimous decision.

The WEC 52 event held after a couple of months on November 11, 2010 saw Poirier beating Zach Micklewright in the first round with TKO punches.

The merger of WEC with ‘Ultimate Fighting Championship’ (UFC) in October 2010 led transfer of all WEC fighters to the UFC.

Post such merger Poirier got the opportunity to make his featherweight debut at the UFC 125 event. When Jose Aldo, the newly crowned UFC Featherweight Champion, had to step out from his first defense against No. 1 contender Josh Grispi due to the former’s back injury Poirier filled the place in the bout. The event was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 1, 2011 and concluded with Poirier winning the fight through a unanimous decision.