Dustin Poirier Details Injury That Removed Him From UFC 230
Perennial lightweight contender Dustin Poirier had never had to pull out of a fight until last week when he withdrew from UFC 230.
It was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, Poirier explained this week to Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour. However, after battling a long-standing hip injury these last couple of months, Poirier was forced to pull out of his UFC 230 co-main event fight against Nate Diaz.
He went into detail about the ailment and why he was ultimately forced out.
Poirier’s Injury
“This is something I’ve been dealing with the last few camps, and it just progressively got worse,” Poirier said. “And then I did something with it this camp to where you know. Like, I can still move around on it, I can still train. But if, say, I do a sprint, the next two days my range of motion is going to be horrible and I’m going to be in a lot of pain. It just got too bad to keep pushing at this point with it.”
It’s extremely rare for a fighter to go through an entire training camp and emerge unscathed. There will always be your usual bumps and bruises. But there is a big difference in being hurt and being injured. As Poirier has come to learn.
Poirier was forced to face these realizations himself. He decided to take care of his lingering injury once and for all.
Aches & Pains Of Training Camp
“Of course every fighter, whether they admit it or not, they have aches and pains and they go into fights hurt,” Poirier said. “If you’re training for a fight, you’re going to be pretty much, there’s going to be days where you’re hurting. Normal pain is no problem. That just comes with the job. But this actually got to the point where it was stopping me from doing the kind of training sessions I needed to be doing. And like I said, range of motion, internal rotation, a lot of stuff was just really really bothering me. And it’s time to get something done about it.”
The American Top Team fighter will be getting a second opinion on his injury this week. And if this doctor comes to the same conclusion as the first, Poirier should be able to avoid surgery altogether.
Surgery?
“One week we got one doctor’s opinion, the next week I’m flying out to LA to get another scan and another opinion. And if the second doctor agrees with the first, I think it will be a pretty quick return. We’re just going to do some stem cell stuff. And I think I’ll be moving around real quick. So, I don’t think I’ll be out long at all.”
