Poirier seeks out officer he threatened during Atlanta airport arrest to apologise

Dustin Poirier is taking active steps to make amends following his arrest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where the former UFC lightweight title contender threatened to fight a police officer, directed a racial slur at him, and was denied permission to board a flight after arriving at the desk visibly intoxicated.

Poirier (30-10) has already issued an apology to the airline desk agents involved in the incident. He has now instructed his Atlanta-based lawyer to obtain the contact details — including a phone number or address — of the officer he confronted, with the intention of reaching out directly.

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Poirier explained his thinking and credited the officer’s restraint for preventing the situation from escalating further.

“The desk agent might have seen I was intoxicated. It was like, ‘Nah, you can’t get on this plane.’ That might have been what started it. But I do want to apologize to those desk agents, whoever they are. And the police, for having to put up with me. I actually asked a lawyer in Atlanta that I’ve been working with if he can please give me that officer’s information, his address. I want to write him a letter. His cell phone, if I can call him, just to tell him how great of a job he did dealing with a person in that condition, how professional he was. He’s incredible… it could have been so much worse.”

Poirier acknowledged that his own intoxicated state likely triggered the chain of events, suggesting the desk agents refused to let him board after noticing he had been drinking. His account frames the officer’s composed handling of the confrontation as the key reason the arrest did not turn more serious.

“The Diamond” is a former interim UFC lightweight champion with one of the most decorated careers in the division’s history, which makes the public nature of the incident — and his subsequent accountability — a significant moment in the fighter’s personal narrative outside the cage.