“It’s hard to lose him twice,” he said with a laugh. “It’s already gone. So I was happy but, at the same time, I wanted to fight. I stayed in the gym, helped other guys, took a few trips to South Florida to stay sharp, trained with the local fighters in Louisiana, worked out other business that I had going on, and I was a father and a husband. I was able to catch up a bit with my life, but I was still an active fighter, so I had to stay in the gym as well. If history has shown me anything in the past after these long layoffs, I always come and have a great performance because I’m not burnt out.
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If history repeats itself, Poirier will put on one hell of a show in his Saturday fight against Michael Chandler, a match fans have been looking forward to ever since it was announced. The reasons are simple: Poirier and Chandler never encountered a fight at Pier Six that they didn’t like, and that made them two of the leading action heroes of that era. Yet while the pair are expected to deliver 15 minutes or less of violence in Madison Square Garden, does Poirier ever feel insulted that fans want him to have to walk through fire every time to double his salary?
“I know it’s not good for you in the long run, but these are the kind of fights that I’ve always wanted to be involved in and be a part of, fights that fans say these kinds of things, fights that make me nervous,” Poirier said. “I like it. I’d love to get in there and have a smooth clean night and go home, but it’s a fistfight.