Max Holloway retires Dustin Poirier at UFC 318, retains BMF
Fairytale endings are not always possible, even for Dustin Poirier.
Max Holloway took the third fight of the trilogy with the now-retired “Diamond” and retained his BMF title. The Louisiana native said this fight would be his last going into the fight and held to that word.
Now, Max Holloway moves on and the UFC will have to find a way to move on after Dustin Poirier. But all of the controversy aside, New Orleans and fans around the world were treated to a fight of the year candidate.
Dustin Poirier: Almost disaster
Early in the fight, disaster almost struck for Dustin Poirier. In the first round, Max Holloway knocked down Poirier with a crisp combination that put Poirier on his back. Holloway took some time to complete the finish but couldn’t do so. Instead, he backed off, banked the round, and bet on round two.
Round two went his way, almost. Again, Poirier almost ended in disaster when Holloway caught him again, wobbling Poirier. As Holloway poured on the volume once again, but Poirier survived. At the end of the round, the tables turned and Poirier knocked down Max Holloway. On top, Poirier looked to close out the show in front of the Louisiana faithful. But we weren’t in store for that kind of fight.
Round three runs up on everyone and Poirier and Holloway proceed to take lumps out of each other for the next three rounds.
At the end of five, both Poirier and Holloway are looking up at the clock. Not because they’re tired. No, they want to find the last ten seconds to point down in the center of the cage and chuck leather until the other goes unconscious. They do so and neither do.
Max Holloway was handed the decision victory win, and rightfully so, as the Hawaiian controlled the majority of the fight with his footwork led by the jab.
Max Holloway out the way
Winners go first and Max Holloway kept his ringside interview brief, giving way to Dustin Poirier. At the end, Poirier went out as he always went into the cage: fighting the best no matter what. Max Holloway lost to Poirier twice and he took the fight anyway.
Poirier thanked his family, the fans, his teammates and more for the illustrious career he was blessed with (pun intended). Holloway will move on to the last part of his career as the sun sets on Poirier’s.
Elsewhere on UFC 318, fans were treated to some weird decisions. Paulo Costa, Daniel Rodriguez, Patricio Pitfall, and Michael Johnson all won via unanimous decision.
The prelims were full of violence. Check out the full card results below:
Max Holloway defeats Dustin Poirier via unanimous decision
Paulo Costa defeats Roman Kopylov via unanimous decision
Daniel Rodriguez defeats Kevin Holland via unanimous decision
Patricio Pitbull defeats Dan Ige via unanimous decision
Michael Johnson defeats Daniel Zellhuber via unanimous decision
UFC 318 prelims:
Vinicius Oliveira defeated Kyler Phillips via unanimous decision
Brendan Allen defeated Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision
Nikolay Veretennikov defeated Francisco Prado via split decision
Ameba Gautier defeated Robert Valentin via R1 KO/TKO
Islam Dulatov defeated Adam Fugitt via R1 KO/TKO
Jimmy Crete defeated Marcin Prachnio via R1 armbar
Ryan Spann defeated Lukasz Brezeski via R1 guillotine
Brunno Ferreira defeated Jackson McVey via R1 armbar
Carli Judice defeated Nicolle Cagliari via R3 KO/TKO
