“There’s a lot of slimy people,” Dustin Poirier reminisces when MMA used to be ‘for the dawgs’; reacts to UFC becoming mainstream

In the last few decades, the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has grown rapidly and is now very well known to the global population. As such, it became one of the mainstream sports. However, UFC veteran Dustin Poirier felt the environment became very different as the sport went mainstream. Also, he claimed it brought in a lot of ‘slimy’ people along with its growth.

In his recent appearance on the MMA Hour show, Dustin Poirier spoke about his upcoming fight and his former opponent Max Holloway. As such, while praising Holloway for being a good person, Poirier accused a lot of the MMA personnel as ‘slimy’. Further, he compared the contemporary state of the sport to its early stage and claimed MMA had more vile people now than before.

There's a lot of slimy people in this sport, Max (Holloway) is one of the good ones man. (Answering to whether there's more slimy people now-a-days) For sure! For sure. Because it's mainstream now. MMA, NHB, this used to be our thing. It was for the dawgs... We had a code. (Now) The thing as a whole is just different. 

Dustin Poirier (via MMA Hour)

Further in the show, Dustin Poirier reminisced about the old days when the MMA and NHB were off-beat. He said it was for the ‘dawgs’ like him and they followed a moral code. As such, he insinuated once the sport went mainstream, bringing more money and fans, it lost its essence. So, he stated the change in MMA culture and said it looked completely different.

Dustin Poirier is to fight Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299. Only a few days ago, ‘The Diamond’ made headlines when he announced his fight was canceled. However, it was due to confusion on his part and confirmed that the bout was on schedule. Poirier is coming off a knockout loss and would be looking forward to returning to winning ways.

Dustin Poirier reveals the reason behind accepting the fight with Benoit Saint-Denis

Over the years, Dustin Poirier has fought many UFC stars and has even acquired a big-name status for himself in the promotion. As such, fight fans always looked forward to his fight. But, one criticism that was put forward was that ‘The Diamond’ never fought an up-and-coming young fighter. Well, he put the criticism to rest by accepting a fight with the surging lightweight Benoit Saint-Denis.

Dustin Poirier, in a recent interview, looked at his upcoming fight and stated the reason for accepting it. As such, he spoke about how somebody handed him an opportunity to climb the rankings in his initial days and wanted to return the favor. In doing so, he expressed his respect for the sport. Also, he wanted to test himself if he could still compete with young prospects. Here is what he said:

I respect this sport, and I honor this sport, and I’m 35 years old now. This guy is a young, hungry lion who is on a streak. I think he finished five fights in a row. Somebody gave me my shot to crack in, so I respect the game. That’s what I’m doing. Let’s see if I still (can do it).

Dustin Poirier (via MMA Junkie)

Dustin Poirier lost his previous fight to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291. This loss affected his title contention chances. As such, ‘The Diamond’ went into deep retrospect to decide on his next career move. He even teased a move up to 170lb or fighting veterans of the game. Finally, he revived his aspirations and accepted a fight against Benoit Saint-Denis. As such, this fight goes down as the co-main event of UFC 299 in Miami.

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