Retirement can be a tough thing to embrace for a professional athlete, and former UFC interim Lightweight champion Dustin Poirier admitted that he’s struggling with being retired after laying down his gloves following his final fight against Max Holloway last July.
“Retiring is scary man,” Poirier said during a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. “Days are long. I have a lot of time. I don’t have to get ready for a fight. … I wouldn’t say depressed, but I got into a kind of funk like, ‘What the hell am I going to do with my life?’”
After a professional career that spanned two decades, Poirier acknowledged that he’s been dealing with a bit of an identity crisis without having fighting to base his day-to-day life around.
“Every day I would wake up for the past 20 years, ‘How can I be a better fighter? What’s new in fitness? How can I push myself? I want to be the champion.’ And then, boom, you lay the gloves down and you wake up and you’re a f—king civilian,” Poirier said.
“Like, it feels crazy. It’s like I’m re-learning who I am. I don’t know who I am without fighting. … Fighting was a cloud in my mind that never went away for 20 years. Now I wake up and it’s gone. What do I do? I’m still trying to find out.”
The feelings that Poirier touched on are likely experienced by many recently-retired athletes, but not all are willing to acknowledge them publicly like Poirier did.
But, it’s exactly why we see so many athletes across all sports retire and then decide to return to action, or wait a year or two too long to retire – because they don’t want to give it up.
Poirier, 37, wanted to walk away from fighting while he’s still relatively young and healthy, which is understandable. But, he also probably feels like he still has some gas left in the tank, which can make it even more difficult to fully embrace retirement.
Perhaps a lack of daily direction will eventually drive Poirier back to the octagon, or into a boxing ring, which would delight millions of fans. Ultimately though, Poirier will have to figure out a path to fulfillment after fighting. He’s clearly not there quiet yet.
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