UFC star Dustin Poirier says it would be 'incredible' to see MMA in Olympics

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Some decades ago, the thought of mixed martial arts in the Olympics didn't exist.

However, as the UFC and other MMA promotions have skyrocketed in popularity, the conversation is hot and heavy.

Mixed martial arts did not become legal in all 50 states until New York became the last to legalize it just eight years ago.

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Dustin Poirier reacts after his victory against Benoit Saint-Denis of France in a lightweight fight during UFC 299 at Kaseya Center March 9, 2024, in Miami, Fla.  (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

It is still illegal in some parts of Canada, and it was banned in France in 2016, the same year it became legal across the entire United States.

When Dustin Poirier was on the rise, he only needed to focus on the UFC because that was all he was allowed to do.

"When I was an amateur fighter back in 2006, 2007, the sport was still so young at the time. When I was fighting as an amateur, the talks of mixed martial arts being in the Olympics was nowhere in the mind. So, that was nothing I was ever focused on," Poirier told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

But the sport is global and more popular than ever, and Poirier will fight Islam Makhachev of Russia for Makhachev's lightweight championship June 1 in Newark.

Dustin Poirier reacts after his victory against Benoit Saint-Denis of France in a lightweight fight during UFC 299 at Kaseya Center March 9, 2024, in Miami, Fla.  (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

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Now, as the sport sells out arenas routinely