Brendan Allen gets the chance to fight close to home at UFC 318 in New Orleans, and he probably owes that to Dustin Poirier.
The upcoming card on Saturday is built around Poirier’s retirement fight in New Orleans as he clashes with Max Holloway in the main event. As a fellow Louisiana native, Allen was definitely hopeful he would get the chance to compete there as well. He got his wish with a grudge match booked against Marvin Vettori, and he’s thankful for the opportunity.
That’s why Allen has no problem giving Poirier his flowers even if it pains him just a little bit considering the former interim lightweight champion is teammates with his upcoming opponent.
“He’s done a lot for the sport,” Allen said about Poirier when speaking to MMA Fighting. “He’s done a lot for his community. He’s done a lot for fighting and a lot of people. I think he’s done got it back. He lives a great life from fighting, and he’s built it all himself, fight by fight. He’s been around a long time. He deserves everything he’s got. He’s worked really hard for it. I know what he comes from and he deserves it. He really deserves it.
“I’m really happy for him and his family. I think everyone in Louisiana and everyone who loves MMA where we’re from should be thanking him right now. Because without him, we probably wouldn’t be coming to Louisiana. I would say and I have told him thank you for that. He’s with the [opposing] team so I can’t be saying too much.”
While they don’t train together any longer, Allen definitely remembers the days when he was just learning about MMA and Poirier was one of the top prospects coming out of Louisiana.
In fact, the veteran middleweight remembers one sparring session in particular where he got thrown directly into the fire with Poirier as his partner. Despite still being a teenager at the time, Allen says Poirier treated him like a professional.
“I was already training at a different gym, and he was training at a different gym,” Allen explained. “Dustin and my friend Kurt were the two biggest guys in the whole south at the time. So they wanted them to train together. I think Dustin was right around the point where he had one WEC fight or was just about to be signed to WEC. It was somewhere around that time. Kurt just asked me to go with him and I went.
“I was sparring, trying to watch them spar because they were having a hell of a sparring session. Then it was live gos starting from guard against the wall and man they said go and he hit me so hard. It was like a live drill but you start in guard and he hit me so hard. I’m like f*ck man, I’m just a kid. We ain’t little no more. That shit ain’t going to happen again.”
Allen says those kinds of training sessions were normal for fighters coming up during those days when sparring basically meant fighting.
Athletes have become smarter about training for long-term health these days but Allen admits he learned a lot from Poirier and other fighters in that era because he wasn’t given a pass just because he was a teenager.
“You learn real quick,” Allen said. “That was my whole upbringing at the beginning, just trying with guys that are 25, 26, 27 [years old] and I’m 14, 15, 16 years old. It’s way different than nowadays, I can tell you that. It’s way different.”
From those early sparring sessions to now sharing a roster spot with him in the UFC, Allen appreciates everything that Poirier has done for the sport and he wishes him nothing but the best in retirement.
“At the end of the day, everything aside, I’m super happy for him and his family,” Allen said. “He’s earned every single thing he has right now. So many fighters would kill to have that and he’s done it. No matter what happens, the man has made a great life for himself by punching people in the face. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
