Dustin Poirier kicked off Father’s Day by opening presents with his children. However, he ended up in handcuffs at an Atlanta airport by the end of it. Why? Because in between came alcohol, an argument with airport staff, and a viral confrontation with police that ‘The Diamond’ still can’t bring himself to watch.

The arrest cost him sponsors, work, money, and, most painfully, the shame of subjecting his wife and children to the fallout. Now, the former UFC interim lightweight champion, who retired from competition last year, has recalled how a day that began with his family turned into one of the lowest points of his life.

“On Father’s Day, I was travelling to work, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about my father, and I started drinking in the airport, and that’s kind of what led to the incident,” Dustin Poirier said on The Diary of a CEO. “I guess you can call it depression, just didn’t feel well. And when I feel like that, I know I shouldn’t drink.”

The day had actually started well. Dustin Poirier spent the morning with his children, receiving gifts and a letter from his daughter, and doing all of the typical Father’s Day stuff. But things changed when he left for a work trip, as memories of his father, who is an alcoholic and is currently homeless despite the former UFC fighter’s attempts to help, kept building up in him all day.

“I had a great morning, but then when I left my home to go to fly out, I started feeling it,” he said. “For Father’s Day, it just hit me, man, it hit me hard. Some guys came in, took some shots, and one thing led to another. Go to my gate, get into it with the desk agent. They call security, call the police.”

Despite it being days since the incident, Dustin Poirier confessed that the viral clip from his arrest still haunts him, and he hasn’t gathered the courage to watch it. He revealed his wife, Jolie, saw it all and helped him understand what truly happened on the day.

“I don’t wanna see it,” he said. “Even when my wife started playing it, and I heard it, she went and watched it in the other room. Don’t wanna see it, man.

“To see myself in that condition, disrespecting police officers, disrespecting workers at the airport, disrespecting myself, disrespect my family, I just don’t feel like it’s gonna benefit me to see that. If anything, I think it’s gonna bring me down. I’m gonna keep thinking about it.”

As a result, he has completely removed himself from social media since the incident to avoid all the bad press from serving as a reminder of that day. However, it does little to heal him. After all, the worst part for ‘The Diamond,’ though, has been what the incident did to his family.

“And just to put my wife and my children through that, you know, just, I just keep apologizing, and it’ll never happen again,” he admitted. “Not only did I let myself down, but I have a family. I let my family down, man.

“That’s what hurts. I’m gonna learn from this, and it’s gonna benefit me and my family in the long run.”

The 37-year-old further said that he has already lost at least one major sponsor and is waiting to see how far the damage goes.

“So it’s just something that had to happen, I guess,” the UFC veteran added. “That day cost me not only embarrassment and embarrassment to my family, it cost me a lot of money, too. I’m losing sponsors, I’m losing gigs, I’m losing things that I had set up.”

With this arrest, there’s uncertainty about future business opportunities for ‘The Diamond’ and his role as a UFC desk analyst on Paramount+. But for Dustin Poirier, the biggest consequence of the arrest may end up being the decision he made afterward.

Dustin Poirier vows to turn things around

According to the former interim lightweight champion, he is done drinking. Poirier does not call himself an alcoholic, but he has openly confessed that he has a bad relationship with alcohol. He also knows from his father’s struggles that drinking is especially dangerous for him when he is already feeling quite low.

After all, the incident occurred during one of the toughest periods in his life. Dustin Poirier spent about two decades chasing a single goal inside the cage: to become a champion. But now that his fighting career is over, he has admitted time and again that he has been struggling to figure out what comes next.

“Twenty years, I was dreaming about being the best. I just want to dream again,” Poirier said about his retirement. “I was a kid when I started this, the fight life. It taught me how to be a man. It taught me how to do business. It taught me a lot of things about myself.”

In an effort to find a new purpose, Poirier admitted he has been going to therapy and working on his anxiety and depression, which he says worsened after retirement. It is worth noting that Dustin Poirier isn’t the first person who has struggled with alcohol and found therapy to be helpful.

UFC welterweight Geoff Neal, who is all geared up to face Chidi Njokuani at UFC 330, battled alcoholism for five years before turning his life around with the help of therapy. Today, he remains sober and actively competing.

Dustin Poirier also understands that isolating himself after the arrest won’t help him in the long run.

“I’ve been silencing every call, you know, not just wanting to talk to people since Father’s Day, but I need to start,” he added. “I need to reach back out.”

For now, ‘The Diamond’ still faces a court appearance on the public intoxication charge in Atlanta, and the full professional consequences of the arrest are still unknown. However, he believes the incident has to become something from which he may learn rather than something that defines whatever comes next.