Dustin Poirier recently opened up about what led to his infamous arrest for public intoxication at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Father’s Day late last month. Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast last week, the Louisiana native revealed that the memory of his father, who is currently battling homelessness, drove him into depression while he was on his way to a work assignment. That, coupled with a history of alcoholism he confessed he inherited from his father, led him to drink heavily before his now-viral arrest that day.

While Poirier’s admission was as candid as it gets, his longtime rival Conor McGregor has now argued that ‘The Diamond’ should focus less on the circumstances surrounding the incident and more on accepting responsibility for it.

“Karma is a mirror,” McGregor said on Smash Cast. “It’s not good. It’s not good to see. If I was to say something to him, I would say, take this with absolute seriousness. Do not engage in people. Oh, there’s people, ‘It was funny, I like him more.’ So you start laughing about it. ‘Ah, maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe I’ll keep going.’ Then the next one’s worse, and then you slip deeper and deeper.

McGregor then addressed Poirier’s explanation directly.

“So, I would say, take this with absolute seriousness,” he added. “He has to take accountability. I seen something. He came out. He blamed his father. You have to take accountability, my man. That’s it. I’m not gonna go deeper. I don’t want to go into it. It’s not my business, you know, and for the sake of his family and his children, his new child born, I hope he comes right.”

Despite how McGregor worded it, Poirier didn’t directly blame his father for his recent arrest. In fact, the former interim lightweight champion accepted responsibility for the incident multiple times since.

Shortly after his arrest, the 37-year-old publicly opened up about his struggles with alcohol following his retirement from UFC last year and admitted he needed help to get through the difficult phase of his life. Dustin Poirier also issued a public apology to the airport employees and police officers involved.

“I don’t know. But I do want to apologize to those desk agents, whoever they are, and the police for having to put up with me, man,” Poirier said on the same podcast.    

As a result of his honesty, he drew support from several figures across the MMA community, including Jon Jones, Max Holloway, and others. Former UFC fighter Matt Brown particularly praised ‘The Diamond’ for owning up to his mistakes, saying he believes Poirier will ultimately come out of this as a better man. Still, there have also been voices critical of Poirier, including Sean Strickland.

After the former UFC interim lightweight champion admitted he was “depressed,” the middleweight champion publicly criticized his comments, stating how a “rich man” like him isn’t allowed to be depressed. However, Strickland later apologized to Poirier following a personal conversation between the two.

While Conor McGregor didn’t exactly call out Dustin Poirier over his arrest, he did take some shots at his former rival.  

Conor McGregor calls Dustin Poirier “stupid” over the alleged steroid use

Ahead of his retirement fight last year, Dustin Poirier jokingly said he was going to get on “steroids” and get “jacked.” However, the former UFC lightweight never actually admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs following his loss to Max Holloway at UFC 318. Still, Conor McGregor believes Poirier has been on steroids and called the Louisiana native “stupid” while accusing him of using them. 

“Funny enough, I spoke with Megan Olivi, they asked me, not on this, this hadn’t happened yet, but asking me about Dustin, and for him to retire and go on steroids for no reason, I found that stupid,” McGregor said during the same interview. “Also, his body didn’t look any different, which has me alarm bells went off. Take it with absolute seriousness, because you don’t want to slip further and further.”   

While Poirier has never stated that he has taken steroids during his retirement, he did reveal that he has been using “peptides” during his most recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. It’s also worth noting that peptides and steroids are different, as they are entirely separate types of molecules.

Whether McGregor agrees with Poirier’s explanation or not, his overall message remained consistent: he believes the former interim champion should treat the arrest as a turning point rather than allowing it to become the start of a deeper downward spiral.