UFC Legend Dustin Poirier: I Lost My Mind. I’ll Never Let It Happen Again.

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Business, Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 18.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2026

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

UFC legend Dustin Poirier reveals why he can't bring himself to watch the arrest video, the paid deals he's already lost, his vow to never drink again, and why the hardest fight of his life is happening off the mat. Dustin Poirier (“The Diamond”) is a retired UFC lightweight fighter with a 30-10 record, best known as the only man to knock out Conor McGregor in MMA. He founded The Good Fight Foundation with his wife, Jolie, in 2018 and now appears periodically as a desk analyst on UFC broadcasts. In June 2026, he was arrested for public intoxication at an Atlanta airport, after which he shared that he’s struggling with alcohol. He explains: ◼ What losing your career identity feels like, and how to rebuild when the fight is over ◼ How a childhood of poverty, detention and no father figure shaped the man he became ◼ Why elite athletes often fall apart when they retire, and what to do about it ◼ What going to therapy taught him about the pain he didn't know he was carrying ◼ The mental shift that turned losing to Conor McGregor into beating him Follow Dustin: Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/E2OdPNk X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/3XxRxB YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/3DQVB2W The Good Fight Foundation - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/AbsZdY5 The Diary Of A CEO: ◼ Join DOAC circle here - https://doaccircle.com/ ◼ Buy The Diary Of A CEO book here - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook ◼ The 1% Diary is back - limited time only: https://bit.ly/3YFbJbt ◼ The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: https://linkly.link/2hm7r ◼ Get email updates - https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt ◼ Follow Steven - https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Wispr - Get 14 days of Wispr Flow for free at https://wisprflow.ai/steven Function Health - https://Functionhealth.com/DOAC to sign up for $365 a year. One dollar a day for your health Ketone - https://ketone.com/STEVEN for 30% off your subscription order

Transcript

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1:00.4	slash diary. I've had bouts with depression throughout my career, but man, when it hits me, it's bad.
1:05.8	Which kind of brings us to the airport incident. Yeah. I really messed up.
1:09.7	I, you, and fuck her.
1:27.5	Fuck her happened. So it's Father's Day. And I felt good in the morning. I spent the morning with my kids. But then as I was traveling to work, I felt that feeling again. It's like a cloud in my head that I just can't get out from under. So I started drinking. I'll fight you right now. No, I don't want to fight, bro. And my emotions got the best of me.
1:29.2	Relax, relax, relax, bro.
1:30.6	Got arrested.
1:29.3	It was crazy. I'll fight you right now. No, I don't want to fight, bro. And my emotions got the best of me. Well, relax, relax, bro. Got arrested.
1:30.3	This guy's a U.S.
1:31.3	You have, you have been fucking. Did I just ruin everything that I was working for? You know, I don't know yet. And it could have been so much worse. What was going on in your mind? Where I was angry at the world and I just couldn't stop thinking about my father.
1:44.2	He's actually homeless right now.
1:45.9	And I try to help him out and he's back. great the world and I just couldn't stop thinking about my father. He's actually homeless right now.
1:45.9	And I try to help him out and he's back out on the street. Not that anything's an excuse,
1:51.1	but it wasn't myself. And I never really spoke about it until right now, but I'm back in therapy.
	...

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