Retired Poirier reveals he physically lifted teammate to cheat weigh-in scales

Dustin Poirier has admitted to cheating a weigh-in on behalf of a teammate, revealing on the Deep Waters podcast that he physically lifted the overweight fighter off the scale to get him under the limit at an event in Mississippi.

Poirier, who retired from MMA last year with a record of 30-10 following a loss to Max Holloway, described the mechanics of the scheme with characteristic candour. When fighters are close to the weight limit, standard procedure sees them strip down and step on the scale while a towel is held up for privacy. Poirier used that blind spot to his advantage.

“One time one of my buddies was fighting in Mississippi,” Poirier said. “And they had the towel out, he was naked, he was over [the weight limit]. I was behind the towel with him. Everybody was in front. I grabbed a handful of hairy man *ss cheeks and I lifted him up a little bit, got him on weight.”

The former UFC interim lightweight champion did not name the teammate involved, nor did he specify when the incident took place. The confession is unlikely to carry any formal consequences given that Poirier has since retired, but it does shine a light on the lengths fighters and their corners will go to avoid a weight-miss, which can result in fines, cancelled bouts, or title forfeiture depending on the jurisdiction.

Poirier’s retirement has not been entirely clean-cut. Since stepping away from competition after the Holloway defeat, he has publicly acknowledged missing the sport and has stopped short of ruling out a comeback — leaving the door open for one final chapter in a career that saw him compete at the highest level of the lightweight division for over a decade.