{"id":8079,"date":"2025-07-20T09:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T09:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/8079\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T09:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T09:26:08","slug":"dustin-poirier-ends-mma-career-in-defeat-as-max-holloway-claims-trilogy-win-at-ufc-318","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/8079\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Poirier ends MMA career in defeat as Max Holloway claims trilogy win at UFC 318"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW ORLEANS, July 29 \u2014 The trilogy fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier may not have been a microcosm of their first two encounters, but it delivered an electrifying final 15 seconds when Holloway and the retiring Poirier traded blows in Round 5.<\/p>\n

The result was a victory for lightweight Holloway by unanimous decision on the three judges\u2019 cards \u2014 48-47, 49-46, 49-46 \u2014 at UFC 318 in New Orleans on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Holloway (27-8 MMA) was classy in victory against Poirier, as he had lost the first two fights of the series before returning the favor in Louisiana native Poirier\u2019s last MMA bout.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe baddest man alive, bro,\u201d said Holloway, 33. \u201cGive it up for Dustin Poirier.\u201d<\/p>\n

A first-round knockdown from the Hawaiian set the tone early as Holloway nearly finished Poirier (30-10) but his 36-year-old opponent persevered.<\/p>\n

By Round 4, Poirier had little energy left but admitted post-fight that he was impressed that the former featherweight champion Holloway\u2019s striking was still as sharp as ever. According to the final stats on the broadcast, Holloway outlanded Poirier 113-99 in significant head strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was going to be in here cracking a little bit harder, which he was,\u201d Poirier said of Holloway. \u201cThis guy is tough to deal with when he\u2019s in front of you. He\u2019s slick. He\u2019s crafty. He\u2019s fast. He\u2019s the (BMF) champ. I got nothing but respect for Max, man. He\u2019s one of the good guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Holloway (red gloves) hugs Dustin Poirier (blue gloves) during UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 19, 2025. \u2014 Stephen Lew\/Imagn Images pic<\/p>\n

Holloway made his first defense of the \u201cBMF\u201d title a successful one since winning it last April at UFC 300. It is unclear what direction the belt takes, as it is not associated with a division and has been used infrequently since November 2019<\/p>\n

Paulo Costa of Brazil got back in the win column with a unanimous decision over Roman Kopylov, utilizing his boxing to sweep the cards 30-27, 30-27, 29-28. Costa (15-4) remains in the middleweight title picture, while Kopylov (14-4) had won his last two fights.<\/p>\n

The next two fights also saw another string of decisions with welterweight Daniel Rodriguez outlasting Kevin Holland despite a late rally from Holland nearly finishing him in Round 3 with strikes. The cards read 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, as Holland (28-14) was another betting favorite at the expense of Rodriguez (20-5).<\/p>\n

Patricio Pitbull earned his first UFC victory with a win by unanimous decision over featherweight Dan Ige by identical 29-28 scores. Pitbull\u2019s wrestling was too much for Ige, who entered the fight having lost two of his last three fights. Pitbull (37-8) last fought in April at UFC 314, where Ige (19-10) earned a win on the same card.<\/p>\n

UFC 318\u2019s pay-per-view got underway with lightweight Michael Johnson earning a unanimous decision in an upset of Daniel Zellhuber. The 39-year-old Johnson (24-19) was a significant underdog entering the fight but won the cards with matching 29-28 scores. A second-round knockdown swung the fight in Johnson\u2019s favor, as Zellhuber (15-3) now has lost back-to-back outings. \u2014 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW ORLEANS, July 29 \u2014 The trilogy fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier may not have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,10000,786,9997,785,9999,85,9998],"class_list":["post-8079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dustin-poirier-retiring","tag-fighting","tag-max-holloway-vs-dustin-poirier","tag-mma","tag-patricio-pitbull-ufc-win","tag-sports","tag-ufc-318-new-orleans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}