Dustin Poirier didn’t walk out of the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans with a win Saturday, but he did leave with the respect of his peers.
Saturday’s unanimous decision loss to Max Holloway at UFC 318 was the final fight of his career, and he was able to push the BMF title match to five rounds. He ultimately fell short, but plenty of the most notable names in UFC took to social media to express their admiration:
“It’s been overwhelming honestly,” Poirier said of the respect and props he received all week, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN. “I feel appreciated. I feel seen. I never stepped outside of fighting and looked at it this way. I never got to look at it third person. This week has been incredible. I feel loved by the fans, Louisiana and the company. I’m a kid living the dream out here, man, throwing punches.”
Poirier walked to the Octagon with Lil Wayne, which was fitting since he walked out to the rapper’s song “A Milli” for his first UFC fight in 2011.
It was a full-circle moment, and Holloway also felt like a fitting opponent considering it was the third fight between the two. Poirier won the first two matchups, but Holloway wasted little time setting the tone in the third.
He dropped the 36-year-old in each of the first two rounds, although Poirier bounced back both times and even earned a drop of his own. Still, Holloway was the better fighter as the match progressed, and the unanimous decision came as no surprise.
As Okamoto noted, Poirier is walking away from the sport tied for the fourth-most knockouts in UFC history with 11 and the fifth-most wins in history with 22. He lost undisputed title fights against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev throughout his career, but he did win an interim lightweight title in 2019.
That win came over Holloway via unanimous decision in another five-setter.
The pair fought the distance one more time Saturday, and Poirier drew the admiration of the crowd and his fellow fighters alike for his effort.