Poirier was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. When he was just five his parents split, and as he grew older he got involved in more and more high school fights. He was eventually expelled and spent much of his time at juvenile detention and boot camps. He eventually dropped out of school, after finding the education system as being like a “prison”, according to his mother’s account to ESPN earlier this year.
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No future
By 16, he was a high school dropout with few apparent prospects to look forward to. However, when he was 18, his life began to turn around as he changed his focus towards professional fighting.
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Finding his calling
The UFC champ has said he can’t remember an exact moment when he found his calling. In his late teens Poirier started going to the gym, lost weight and focused on his boxing and jiu-jitsu skills. He scored his first professional MMA fight in 2009, aged 20. Poirier said in a 2015 UFC interview that he found a “sense of calm” in the chaos of fighting and it allowed him to focus and turn his life around.
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His wife is his No 1 fan
Poirier met his wife Jolie when they were both still teenagers and they reportedly tied the knot in 2009. Jolie is “Insta famous” in her own right, with over 60,000 followers on the platform, where she often gives insider glimpses of her family. After his recent victory over Conor McGregor, Jolie was caught on camera saying people shouldn’t doubt her husband’s abilities.
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His baby girl
Poirier is a proud dad to four-year-old Parker Noelle. He confirmed that his wife was pregnant just before his UFC fight against Joseph Duffy in January 2016. Before the fight, he told interviewers he had only just found out that he was going to be a dad, and that while fighting was his first love, now that a child was on the way, things had changed.
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