It was an extremely emotional night for the MMA world on Saturday as Dustin Poirier competed in the UFC for the final time.
At UFC 318 in Louisiana on Saturday night, Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier clashed for the third and final time with the BMF title on the line in ‘The Diamond’s’ final fight of his incredible career.
After agreeing to throw down with ‘Blessed’ before the fight, in the final 10 seconds of the fight once Holloway pointed to the ground, Poirier opted to go for the clinch instead.
Unfortunately for Poirier, he didn’t quite get his fairytale end as after five incredibly close rounds Holloway’s hand was raised and he became the first fighter to successfully defend the BMF title in UFC history.
Despite that, after the Louisianan put his gloves down in the center of the Octagon, emotional tributes poured in from the likes of Jon Jones and even his former foe Islam Makhachev.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLCPoirier shares emotional moment with Max Holloway’s son following UFC 318
As Poirier announced that it would be his final fight in the sport, the promotion put together an emotional retirement video package for him, which included words from the absent Joe Rogan.
After sharing the moment with his entire family in the Octagon, when he made his way backstage, ‘The Diamond’ continued to embrace the support and even shared an extremely wholesome moment with Holloway’s son.
“Great fight. Thank you for giving him the opportunity,” Rush Holloway told Poirier.
“No he gave me the opportunity. Your dad’s a gem, congrats man. Thank you guys man. Congrats to your dad,” Poirier replied as the two embraced.
Max Holloway called out Dana White after UFC 318 snub
Despite the event being a relative success considering the turnout and the fact that it was put together purely for Poirier, it wasn’t the greatest night of fights as eight of the 14 fights went to a decision.
And although Holloway and Poirier once again put on a close war, they were not awarded Fight of the Night by UFC boss Dana White, who instead gave the performance bonus to Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen.
This left Holloway fuming and after the event he called out White for snubbing him and ‘The Diamond’.