COCONUT CREEK, Fla. — Dustin Poirier was at a crossroads early in his career. It was May 2012, and he had just lost his first UFC main event to Chan Sung Jung. It was Poirier’s third UFC fight, and he was only 23 years old. But he felt like he needed a change.
Up until that point, Poirier had trained exclusively in his home state of Louisiana at Gladiators Academy in Lafayette. With the hope of taking his MMA game to the next level, he reached out to a few training camps. Poirier spent some time in New Jersey working on wrestling with Kurt Pellegrino, a former UFC and Bellator lightweight. He also sent an email to American Top Team in South Florida.
Poirier got a reply back from ATT right away, inviting him to come there for a week to train. The gym even offered to pay for his flight and hotel. Poirier arrived soon after and trained with then-UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves, former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown and Dyah Davis, son of former Olympic champion boxer Howard Davis Jr.
When Poirier got home to Lafayette, all he could think about was his time at ATT.
“I was like, ‘Am I blowing this out of my head or was that the best week of training I’ve ever had?'” Poirier said.
Within five days, Poirier was in a rental car driving the 16 hours back to Coconut Creek, about 17 miles north of Fort Lauderdale.
“And I never left,” Poirier said.
Nearly a decade later,…
Source : espn
