In recent years. several former or retired UFC fighters have extended their combat sports careers by transitioning to boxing. Former champions Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Francis Ngannou have. Ben Askren, Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvial, Mike Perry and Darren Till also have, among others.
Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has always wanted to try his hand at boxing, but his contractual status with the UFC prevents it.
“I still have fights on my contract with the UFC. I’m stuck in purgatory, so I can’t go out and do nothing,” Poirier said on Deep Waters. “And I don’t even know if I could I don’t even know if I would. But boxing is something that I always wanted to do.”
While active, Poirier was known as one of the better boxers on the UFC roster. Half of his career wins were by knockout. With the UFC and Zuffa Boxing being under the same ownership umbrella, TKO Group Holdings, it would seem there could be crossover opportunities for UFC fighters. But according to Poirier, that’s not the case. The organization will not be a place where we’ll see former or current UFC fighters competing.
“I’ve been down this road before. They don’t want any crossover,” said Poirier. “They want to be taken serious. Plus, if you let one guy do it every guy and on the roster is going to try to do this