Poirier puts training on hold amid COVID-19 concerns: ‘I gotta be with my family’

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“Fighting’s cool and all but that’s just something I do. I’ve got to worry about my family.”

The outbreak of COVID-19 and ensuing national panic has forced Dustin Poirier to reassess his priorities.

Poirier was originally set to begin training camp in Florida but ‘The Diamond’ has decided to stay at home with his family amid concerns over coronavirus.

The American Top Team product is still going for daily 30 minute runs and eating healthy to stay in shape but says spending time with his family is now his No. 1 priority.

Was supposed to fly from this Bellator event to Florida to start training camp today but i changed the plans. Getting crazy out there. I gotta be with my family in Louisiana

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) March 14, 2020

“First time in our lives that we’ve had a pandemic happen like this where we’re talking about domestic travel bans and curfews countrywide. It’s a crazy time,” Poirier told MMA Fighting in a recent interview. “I just want to be safe and be with my family.”

“This sucks. Financially, I don’t have as much to worry about but I wasn’t worried about the fighting stuff. I was just worried about being separated from my family.

“I didn’t want to go to Florida and then have them come meet me. They were supposed to come meet me in like a week and a half and spend the rest of the time there with me until I fight but I didn’t want to get separated from them.”

“I’m still going to eat clean and run in the mornings and I’m about to train in 30 minutes here in Louisiana with my buddies. I’m good to go,” Poirier said. “That’s not really a priority right now. I’m just trying to wait this out day by day and see how this all happens.

“Fighting’s cool and all but that’s just something I do. I’ve got to worry about my family.”

Poirier was expected to commence training for a proposed lightweight bout with Dan Hooker but the fight will likely be pushed back to a later date or possibly cancelled. Either way, Poirier stressed that fighting is low on his list of priorities right now.

“As of right now, my fight is far enough to where I’m not really stressed,” Poirier explained. “If my fight gets pushed back, we’ll have everything ready and we’ll know what’s going on by then but right now it’s still kind of fresh with all this going on.

“I’m not worried at all about my fight being pushed back or cancelled or whatever. Like I said, this is just fighting. It’s whatever. Of course, I want to fight. I want to get back in the win column and have a great performance and all that stuff but if it gets pushed back or cancelled or it’s a couple months later, that’s not a big deal to me.”

“Fighting is something I do,” he added. “It’s not who I am 100 percent.

“That’s what I’m trying to do. Just be here with my family until this thing passes or we know what’s next and then we’ll take it from there.”

Poirier last fought at UFC 242 where he was submitted by undefeated lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov. The MMA vet is currently ranked #2 in the UFC lightweight rankings and #12 in the pound-for-pound rankings.