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ABU DHABI – Dustin Poirier was overcome with emotion after falling short of his dream to become undisputed lightweight champion Saturday at UFC 242.

Poirier (25-6 MMA, 17-5 UFC) suffered a third-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) in the event headliner, which took place at The Arena in Yas Island. “The Diamond” didn’t mince words on how he felt about the result.

“I just didn’t do enough, and I have to live with it for the rest of my life,” Poirier told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the UFC 242 post-fight news conference. “I was just so prepared for tonight. This one really hurts.”

Despite Poirier having a complete understanding of what Nurmagomedov would do, he still wasn’t able to stop “The Eagles” relentless takedown attack. Poirier said he felt the latter portion of the fight is where he would shine, but he simply couldn’t execute what he wanted to do.

Poirier, who was openly in tears throughout the news conference, praised Nurmagomedov for executing the way he did.

“The guy is good,” Poirier said. “He’s a world champ. Maybe I could’ve done more. Hindsight is 20/20. I was ready to fight 25 minutes. He did exactly what I thought he was going to do. Of course I’m going to beat myself up, and I’m the only one who has to deal with this – me and my family. I’m just wondering if maybe against the fence when I got underhooks if I could’ve tried a little bit harder to get off the fence maybe. But that’s just questions I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life.

“I thought for sure he was winning the rounds, taking me down and dominating. I thought he was squeezing hard. We were getting slicker. He was getting a little weaker. Coming into this fight later in the third, fourth and fifth were going to be my rounds. I wasn’t planning on giving up the first two, but I knew they were going to be tough. I thought the deeper we got into the fight the slicker I was going to be, but that’s fighting. It’s tough.”

It took Poirier 23 UFC fights to get the opportunity at an undisputed title. He said he felt it would be his moment to reach the pinnacle of the sport, and it’s difficult to digest the situation not going his way.

Poirier said this isn’t the end of his story, though. He takes pride in overcoming adversity and persevering through difficult times. And while he’s not sure what comes next, he believes he hasn’t seen his last moments of greatness.

“I’m only 30 years old,” Poirier said. “I’ve just been through so much in my fighting career, I don’t know what’s next. I thought honestly the past 10 weeks of training camp and preparing for this fight, I thought the stars were aligning and thought this was going to be my night. I thought this was destiny. I don’t want to keep crying, but this just means a lot to me.

“I just thought tonight I was going to fly back home to the United States undisputed world champ, so this really hurts. I have a lot of tread left on the tires, I feel. I’m not fighting just to fight. I’m fighting to be the world champ. So these opportunities don’t come that often. I just have to go home and think about what’s next for me.”