Dustin Poirier has never hidden the fact that retirement hasn’t been easy on him. He’s spoken more than once about how his occasional drinking turned into something closer to a daily habit once the fights stopped. On Father’s Day. that struggle became public. Poirier was arrested at a Georgia airport on a public intoxication charge and released on bail later that night.

Days later, he decided to talk about what led to it. In an appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Poirier revealed that his own father’s alcoholism quietly shaped his life for years, ending in his father’s homelessness.

“I mean, he’s ruined his marriages,” Poirier said. “He’s ruined his relationships. He’s ruined his friendships. He’s ruined his relationships with his family, with his kids. Well, my little brother kind of is off and on talking to him, but he has two kids that don’t speak to him at all and won’t. He’s been in jail plenty of times for alcohol-related stuff.”

“If I could paint a picture of what you think of as a classic drunk or alcoholic, you know, very selfish, and continues to go back to it. He’s actually homeless right now.” 

Poirier has rarely discussed his father beyond acknowledging his parents separated when he was young. That distance shaped a tough upbringing in Louisiana, and it’s part of why this moment felt different.

The back-story is also what connects directly to what happened at the airport.

“Yeah. Part of me getting in trouble at the airport was that I just felt, and it’s not my weight to carry, you know- but I just felt I tried to help him out, and he’s back out on the street,” Poirier added. “It’s like he almost doesn’t want help, you know? And I was just kind of, on Father’s Day, traveling to work, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about my father. I started drinking in the airport, and that’s kind of what led to the incident.” 

That admission sits differently next to a moment from Poirier’s actual retirement fight last year. His father, Darrell, was at UFC 318 against Max Holloway. Comedian Theo Von embraced him afterward, telling him, “Thank you for a beautiful time with your son. We love him.” It’s the kind of image that makes the airport arrest land harder, not easier.

Poirier also pointed to something he’d let slip that made things worse.

Dustin Poirier opens up on feeling “depressed” after quitting therapy 

Poirier said therapy had actually been working for him. The problem started once it did.

“You know, I have been going through therapy and stuff like that,” Poirier mentioned on the Diary of a CEO podcast. “Years ago I started going to therapy. And when I started feeling better, I stopped practicing everything I learned through therapy. And then I felt that feeling again… I guess just call it ‘depression’. I just didn’t feel well. When I felt like that, ‘I shouldn’t drink’… then I drank anyway.”

Well, it’s not just Dustin Poirier who has struggled with alcohol and found therapy to be effective. UFC welterweight Geoff Neal, who is set to face Chidi Njokuani at UFC 330 on Islam Makhachev’s return card, also battled alcohol addiction for five years before turning his life around by following a strict routine.

That said, with Poirier finally opening up about his struggles, one can only hope that both he and his father find peace and positivity once again.