Podbit · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Elite athletes pour everything into one thing — their entire nervous system calibrated to competition. When it ends, they're left chasing that same peak intensity in anything they can find, and it's often destructive. Poirier always said he'd never be 'that guy.' Then he was. He understands now why the pattern keeps repeating.
Where this was said
At 25:20 · chapter starts 22:25
Bartlett presses Poirier to describe depression in visceral terms, and Poirier delivers one of the most candid accounts in the episode: everything has its own gravity pulling toward the negative, like a cloud he can't escape. [1] — Dustin Poirier "Poirier describes depression as a state where everything has its own gravity pulling toward the negative — a cloud in your head you can't e…" 16:30 He traces the first recognisable onset to after a second fight loss to Justin Gaethje, when he began to notice deep emotional volatility. Therapy helped — he started unpacking childhood trauma he didn't know he was carrying, including the absence of his father, the domestic violence, and the burden of growing up with an addicted parent. But he made a critical mistake: when he started feeling better, he stopped practising what therapy taught him. The airport incident was partly the result of that lapse.
After 20 years of professional fighting, Poirier had no roadmap for who he was without it. The gym was therapy, competition was purpose, and the fight camp was structure — strip all three away and you're left with long, empty days and no dopamine equivalent. He always feared becoming 'that guy,' and then he did.
Poirier retired from UFC on July 30 in New Orleans after over two decades in the sport, having promised his wife he would retire by 35.
Poirier confirmed there is no formal support or roadmap provided by the UFC to help fighters navigate the psychological transition out of professional fighting.
Poirier has never been a casual drinker — when he drinks, he drinks until the bottle is gone. He envies people who can stop at two. After the arrest and a conversation with his wife, he's made the definitive decision: alcohol is out of his life permanently, because it has never benefited him and he refuses to replicate his father's legacy.
Thomas's wife deferred her CrossFit career — she's in the global top 1% of athletes — to put him through law school debt-free. He wants her to chase the dream now; she wants the emergency fund and house down payment first. On a $200K lawyer income with no debt, the opportunity cost is just a few months of slower saving.
Underground calisthenics battles are exactly like UFC meets a rap battle — 150 people crowded around a circle, fighters walking out with masks and chains, nicknames like 'Extra Money' vs 'Calisthenics the Prince,' and people throwing money and betting. The battle set: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell. This is the next big spectator sport.
Rico Verhoeven controlled the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for approximately 10 rounds — and had his appeal upheld when officials admitted the fight was stopped after the bell. The result was never overturned. Rogan calls it either incompetence or corruption, and argues the money behind Usyk made an upset politically inconvenient.
Rogan lays out a blunt case: boxing's 3-judge system is structurally broken, and the judges know who the promoter wants to win. Glory's 5-judge format is the right model. Corruption doesn't have to be conscious — just knowing Usyk is the cash cow is enough to tilt the scales.
With the Usyk-Wilder fight stalling and Fury-Joshua coming too late, the real fight the world wants is the rematch. Rico is a free agent. Usyk vacated his belts. The story is unfinished and both Rogan and Rico know it. His Excellency Turki Alasheikh already called for it ringside — the question is money.
Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. When Joshua pulled out, Rico pitched Usyk himself — Undisputed vs. Undisputed. Usyk said yes in two weeks. The whole thing started with one text.
Every heavyweight who faced Usyk tried to move to the right — straight into his power hand. Rico and Peter Fury identified the obvious solution: move left, away from the left hand, and smother him with size. It sounds simple. Nobody had done it. That one adjustment was the foundation of 10 dominant rounds.
MMA fans boo when fights go to the ground. They love stand-up. Kickboxing is pure stand-up. Yet it barely exists in America while boxing and MMA are enormous. Rogan's diagnosis: no promotion machine. If the UFC got behind kickboxing the way they've built MMA, it would explode. The talent is there — the storytelling machine is not.
A nation of 17 million people gave the world Ramon Deckers, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Melvin Manhoef, Rob Kamen, Ernesto Hoost, and Rico Verhoeven. Rico's theory: the country is so small that every gym shares knowledge freely. In the US, you need a flight. In Holland, you drive 40 minutes and spar the national champion.
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