Dustin Poirier sat down for his first interview since being arrested for public intoxication last month at an Atlanta airport.
The former UFC fighter was arrested on Father’s Day, with police cam footage revealing an aggressive Poirier trying to fight with the responding officer and using racist language.
Poirier engaged in a 90-minute interview on The Diary of a CEO YouTube channel to go over the incident, his struggles with alcohol, and the fallout from the incident and bad publicity.
The fighter was on his way to South Florida for a multi-city trip and was scheduled to film a commercial over several days, but never made it to the destination. He explained that he was drinking champagne on the flight from Lafayette, Louisiana, to Atlanta and continued drinking during the layover in Atlanta before the public incident. Poirier has not watched the video and doesn’t want to see himself in that condition, but it has been pieced together for him by his wife, Jolie, and a close friend. The racist terms were not brought up.
Poirier issued an apology during the interview to the desk agents and police and is attempting to contact the responding officer to thank him for his professionalism and restraint personally, aware that things could have gone much worse had the officer responded differently.
He removed all the social media apps from his phone to avoid the clips of his arrest circulating and has assured his wife this will never happen again and will not continue to drink. He states he isn’t an alcoholic but has a bad relationship with it, citing his father’s struggles.
From a financial perspective, Poirier said he has lost at least one major sponsor and is still assessing the fallout from the June 21 arrest to see if other sponsors and companies stick with him, including his role as a desk analyst for the UFC broadcasts on Paramount+.
When asked about fighting again in the UFC, Poirier pegged the chances at “five percent” after retiring in July 2025. Poirier has been public about the difficulties of life after fighting and making the transition to a post-fight career.
After posting a bond, Poirier was released from police custody and will appear in court to address the charge.
