You gotta admit, it broke our hearts when Dustin Poirier tapped out to Islam Makhachev in probably his final title fight. It wasn’t like Poirier wasn’t a strong guy or didn’t have good defensive grappling skills. Rather, it was the Dagestani’s signature D’Arce choke, that proved too tricky to handle. The world indeed waited to see Poirier win that lightweight belt. Recognizing his efforts as one of the toughest guys in the promotion, and drawing parallels to his own undisputed belt, Israel Adesanya acknowledged Poirier’s legendary status.

The former 2-time middleweight champion, on 20 February 2025, came across an X post that showed that highlighted the achievements of ‘The Diamond’. Poirier fought 8 former champs, has the most FOTN bonuses, has been in the UFC for 14 years, and has never lost twice in a row. In the clip, the Louisiana native expressed pride in his career, but also his only regret which was never winning an undisputed belt.

Weighing in his thoughts on the lightweight legend on the X post, ‘The Last Stylebender’ wrote, “Whenever I said UFC 243 was my first title defense, some get salty. I consider my “Interim” title win a title win, any fight after that is considered a title defense and a unification. Two things can be true at the same time 🧠. @DustinPoirier and I won our belts on the same night! “Undisputed” or not he was the champion, y’all can’t take that away from him. Head high my guy, let’s strive!”

Responding to Izzy, the famed MMA journalist Mike Bohn wrote that Poirier should have won the lightweight gold when he defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 257. The only problem was that “UFC wouldn’t acknowledge Khabib’s retirement decision and move the belt on.” It seemed like ‘The Diamond’ agreed to it all. He took to the comments section and replied, “Preach!!” 

Yup. UFC 236 was the night Israel Adesanya and Dustin Poirier were declared interim champions. Both took part in legendary battles, Adesanya against Kelvin Gastelum (inducted into the 2025 Hall of Fame Fight Wing) and Poirier against Max Holloway. Poirier is one of two people to have more than one victory over Max Holloway. But while Adesanya went on to realize undisputed gold in his next bout against Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, Poirier was sent to the bleachers, losing his interim belt in the title unification bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242.

Needless to say, the regret of not having the undisputed title has engulfed Dustin Poirier. What’s better than hearing from the Cajun fighter about his disappointment with not winning the undisputed lightweight belt, despite a tremendous career? We’re indeed talking about the video that Israel Adesanya reacted to.

Dustin Poirier wanted nothing but undisputed gold

During the UFC 302 media day, Dustin Poirier talked about his interim lightweight belt. It was still a UFC title with his name on it. He won it after defeating the then-featherweight champion Max Holloway in a five-round war. He proved himself against fighters like Conor McGregor, and Dan Hooker while giving strong performances against the aforementioned Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Yet, he remained at the top without an undisputed title.

Poirier said, “I said it over and over again. That’s the last spot. What else can I do in this sport? I’m not bragging up here, but I’ve been fighting so long. Of my generation, I fought the best guys at 155 pounds in the world. Some of them twice. I’ve done it all and beaten a lot of them, but I haven’t had the label of undisputed world champion.”

Nevertheless, Poirier is not done yet. While he has hinted at retirement following his loss at UFC 302, we know he’s not going out without making his stance clearer with a win. But when and against whom that would happen is still a mystery for now, despite there being cawings about a possible bout against former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Well, being avid fans of the former interim lightweight champ, all we can do is wait and watch. 

Do you agree with Mike Bohn and Israel Adesanya’s validations of Dustin Poirier’s career? Do you think ‘The Diamond’ is one of the best fighters to have never won an undisputed belt in the UFC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.