Dustin Poirier Reveals Tearjerking Gift From Daughter After Max Holloway, BMF Title Loss

In the UFC 318 Countdown, Dustin Poirier shared a heartwarming message from his eight-year-old daughter, Parker Noelle. She had given him a drawing with a simple yet powerful message: “Dad, I love you so much. I’m happy you are done fighting.” After losing to Max Holloway via a unanimous decision, he hung his gloves up and gave his daughter what she asked for. He may not have walked away with the BMF belt, but what he received in return was something far more meaningful.

During his recent conversation with the famed MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani, ‘The Diamond’ revealed the one-of-a-kind gift that his eight-year-old made for him. He reflected on the time when he got back home following UFC 318 and said, “She said, ‘You didn’t get the BMF belt.’ And also, she hates curse words and stuff like that. So, like, she didn’t like the BMF belt. But, she gave me this. She made this for me.” 

Poirier  brought a handcrafted belt. The text on the belt read, “Best Dad Ever. From: Parker.” The former UFC interim lightweight champion said, “I don’t have the BMF, but I got the BDE, bro.” According to Helwani, the BDE belt was even better than the BMF title. And the Lafayette resident has the perfect space for the BDE belt in his home. He continued, “Where the BMF belt was gonna go, I got this bad boy. This is a one of one, right here. Best Dad Ever belt. Yeah, I’m proud of this one, man. So, life is good, man. Life is good.” 

Of course, this wasn’t the first time Dustin Poirier received strength from Parker Noelle. Back when he fought Islam Makhachev for the lightweight belt at UFC 302, ‘The Diamond’ dedicated it all to the women in his life. And his daughter certainly had a huge role to play in it. After all, it was the first time she attended Poirier’s fights in the front row, only to witness her dad lose via submission. Nevertheless, she wasn’t really a fan of Poirier’s fights. 

Is Dustin Poirier’s daughter the reason behind his retirement?

During his appearance on The Danza Project podcast, Dustin Poirier opened up about how Parker played a major role in his decision to retire. “She hates me fighting. She’s been asking me to retire,” Poirier said. “She was born into fighting. She was born on a Saturday when Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz were having their rematch. I had a laptop in the hospital room. My daughter was just a few hours old, and we were already watching a pay-per-view with my wife… It’s normal to her. So she doesn’t think it’s cool.”

Even though MMA is becoming popular at her school and her classmates often talk about her father, Parker doesn’t see it the same way. For her, fighting never felt special. Poirier added, “She was probably five or six when she thought everyone’s dad fought. That’s just what she thought life was.”

After the UFC 302 weigh-ins, Poirier also told Megan Olivi that Parker had grown used to seeing the toll fights took on him. For her, the bruises, exhaustion, and recovery had become just another part of family life. Now, she’s happy that she won’t have to pull stitches out of her father’s face anymore. And that definitely makes Dustin Poirier the BDE.