Dustin Poirier emotionally set his gloves down in his home state tonight after being defeated by Max Holloway in a unanimous decision defeat in his final fight.
The entire UFC 318 card was built around Poirier, who is from Lafayette, Louisiana, coming home to New Orleans for one last ride. And a trilogy with Holloway for the BMF title seemed to be a solid order of the day on paper.
Luckily, the pair delivered on an otherwise long night that started with promise and a slew of finishes but turned into a slog full of decisions. The lightweight duo put on a show in front of the raucous New Orleans crowd and Poirier was given a touching send-off.
Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway UFC 318 result
Max Holloway is without a doubt one of the most popular and beloved fighters in UFC history, but he happily played the heel for the week as Dustin Poirier’s final foe. The pair had already fought twice, with the hometown star winning both, although this time it was Holloway who entered as BMF champion.
And while Holloway wasn’t as loudly booed as a more divisive rival like Conor McGregor might have been, he certainly was received as a villain by the capacity New Orleans crowd. Poirier tested his rival’s chin early with a big shot.
One of the more interesting factors in the fight was whether or not Holloway’s ability to take a punch, which is legendary, would hold up after being knocked out for the first time by Ilia Topuria. It seemed good early as he took some solid shots from Poirier in the first.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic, though, as Holloway found good shots of his own moving from stance to stance. And the best shot of the round landed when his slapping right hand floored Poirier midway through the action.
Halfway through the second, Holloway landed a big uppercut that wobbled and ultimately put down Poirier again, leading to a prolonged period of control for the Hawaiian. But when Poirier got up, he dropped Holloway with a right and even went for his infamous guillotine, much to the crowd’s delight.
The third was fought at a slightly slower pace as both men seemed to remember the danger at hand from trading in the pocket with the other. And with seconds to go, Poirier landed big and arguably stole the round.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
With tributes pouring in from around the combat world, Poirier headed to the championship rounds one last time, and both men picked up the pace. The hometown star landed a big combination, but wasn’t able to avoid big shots from his visiting rival.
As they headed to the final round of Dustin Poirier’s iconic career, the New Orleans roar led both men into a fiery battle. A brief touch of gloves turned to a combination from Holloway, with the pair continuing to engage as they had for 10 rounds before.
With minutes to go, Holloway appeared to poke Poirier in the eye, which both admitted was an accident after a brief referee’s stoppage. The round ended in typical Poirier fashion, with both men going for broke with big shots.
They agreed to throw hell for leather in the final exchanges, which seemed to favor Holloway as Poirier clung on for life and made it to the final bell of his career. After five incredibly tough rounds to score, Holloway retained his ‘BMF’ belt and was given three favorable scorecards of 48-47 and 49-46×2.
Dustin Poirier had legendary UFC career over more than a decade
The reason for such an unprecedented and impressive celebration of a career tonight was simple; Poirier earned it. Throughout an iconic 41-fight career that kicked off in 2009, he has always been game for a fight even if it doesn’t always mean getting the win.
He famously came within inches of dethroning Khabib Nurmagomedov with a guillotine in their clash in the Middle East. And one could argue his win over Max Holloway in their 2019 rematch was a more legitimate claim to the gold that had been vacated by Conor McGregor than Nurmagomedov’s.
When the Irishman, who Poirier would go on to beat twice after initially losing to in 2014, gave up his lightweight belt to go and fight Floyd Mayweather, the division was left in limbo. A farcical string of cancellations in Brooklyn at UFC 223 saw the Russian forced to face Al Iaquinta for the vacant belt.
While Iaquinta managed to survive for five rounds, he was only ranked at number 11 when he fought Nurmagomedov. Meanwhile, Holloway was the featherweight champion when Poirier defeated him over five rounds in a brutal clash.
Overall, he would never be able to get the undisputed belt. But he did fight for it on multiple occasions after continuously climbing his way to the top of the division at 155lb.