Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier was arrested in Georgia over the weekend and booked on a public drunkenness charge, according to court records.
The incident reportedly took place on Sunday evening during Father’s Day weekend. Poirier was later released the same night after being processed. Details regarding the circumstances that led to the arrest have not yet been made public.
According to a report by TMZ, the 37-year-old made an initial court appearance on Monday morning. Under Georgia law, public drunkenness can carry penalties that include fines and possible jail time, though the outcome of Poirier’s case remains unclear at this stage.
The news comes less than a year after Poirier officially retired from mixed martial arts. The Louisiana native ended his legendary UFC career in July 2025 following a trilogy bout against Max Holloway for the symbolic BMF title. Holloway won the contest via unanimous decision, after which Poirier left his gloves inside the octagon to signal the end of his fighting career.
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Widely regarded as one of the most respected fighters of his generation, Poirier finished his professional MMA career with a record of 30 wins, 10 losses and one no-contest. During his run inside the UFC, he defeated several elite names, including Conor McGregor, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez and Anthony Pettis.
Although Poirier has frequently spoken about missing competition since retirement, he has consistently maintained that his fighting career is over.
Shortly after reports of the arrest surfaced, Poirier appeared to acknowledge the situation indirectly through a message posted on his Instagram Story. He wrote:
“Love you all. I’m working on myself.”
Check out the X post below:
Dustin Poirier previously left door open for Nate Diaz fight despite retirement
While Dustin Poirier has largely embraced retirement, he admitted earlier this year that there remains one fight capable of bringing him back to the UFC.
During an appearance on UFC on Paramount+ in May, Poirier revisited his long-standing rivalry with Nate Diaz. The former interim champion explained that he still feels frustrated about their cancelled UFC 230 matchup from 2018 and believes the story between them was never fully resolved.
According to Poirier, he turned down alternative opponents at the time because he only wanted to face Diaz. He later underwent hip surgery after negotiations surrounding the bout fell apart, but claimed he was unfairly blamed by some fans for the cancellation:
“Man, I still want to whip Nate’s a*s. I’ll come back to fight him because it got away, and he lied, and the fans were on his side. The UFC knew I was going to fight Nate in our first matchup at Madison Square Garden, but Nate was having trouble with his negotiation. I don’t know what was going on, but UFC called me and said, ‘Hey, we want to keep you on the Madison Square Garden card. Would you fight so-and-so?'”
He added:
“They started offering me other people, and I said, ‘Listen, if it’s not Nate, I’m not fighting. I’m going to go and have my hip taken care of. If it’s Nate, I’ll fight.’ It wasn’t Nate. They offered me Kevin Lee. They offered me a few other names. I said, ‘I’m going to go have surgery on my hip.’ Then Nate used that as like I was the fall guy, like fight’s off because I pulled out. But I never pulled out. I just didn’t want to fight anyone but Nate.”
Edited by Abhishek Nambiar