Dustin Poirier screwed up. He knows it, too. On Father’s Day, Atlanta cops cuffed the former interim UFC lightweight champion at the airport after he got belligerent with staff. Then the footage leaked. It wasn’t pretty. A visibly drunk “Diamond” was seen barking threats at police officers, a grim look for one of MMA’s most respected figures.
He isn’t hiding from it. Speaking on “The Diary of a CEO,” Poirier laid bare the ugly truth behind the arrest, pointing to a relapse into a familiar, suffocating depression.
It started fine. He spent the morning with his kids. But the mood shifted fast. As he traveled for work, a heavy fog rolled in. He called it a cloud he couldn’t escape. So, he drank. He drank to numb it, and his emotions took the wheel. He got arrested. Now, he’s left wondering if he just torched his entire legacy in a single afternoon.
He was angry. He was hurting. Specifically, he was thinking about his dad, an alcoholic who has battled addiction for as long as Poirier can remember. Right now, his father is homeless. Poirier tries to help, but the cycle keeps repeating, dragging his dad back to the pavement. It is a heavy burden to carry, especially on Father’s Day.
He isn’t using his dad as a shield. He knows he made his own choices. But the pain triggered the bender. Poirier admitted he stopped doing the mental maintenance that keeps him sane. He used to go to therapy. He got better, so he quit going. That was the mistake. When the depression crept back, he reached for the bottle instead of his coping mechanisms.
Alcohol has never done him any favors. He knows this. Yet, when the mental wheels came off, he drank anyway. He has fought depression throughout his career, but when the darkness hits, it hits like a heavyweight. He messed up, and now he is back in therapy, trying to rebuild the pieces.
