Max Holloway retains UFC BMF title, spoils Dustin Poirier’s retirement combat
NEW ORLEANS — Max Holloway stated he wished to play spoiler and he did it Saturday night time in the principle occasion.
Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier in a unanimous determination to retain the UFC BMF Championship in UFC 318 on the Smoothie King Heart.
The win for Holloway is the primary in three fights towards Poirier, who beat him in 2012 and 2019.
Holloway (28-8) retained his BMF title after touchdown 98 extra strikes (201-109) and touchdown 53 per cent of his important strikes.
Combating towards a partisan Louisiana crowd for the native son Poirier in his retirement match, Holloway was the faster fighter for the complete match, knocking Poirier off his ft early within the first spherical.
Within the second, one other flurry of mixtures put Poirier on the mat once more, adopted by two minutes of dominant grappling.
Poirier’s greatest likelihood got here within the final 30 seconds of the second spherical, getting Holloway on the bottom with a chokehold and a number of other floor punches earlier than the spherical ended.
The loss ends an excellent profession for Poirier, who finishes his profession with a 30-10 document. Poirier, the UFC Light-weight Interim Champion in 2019, additionally defeated the likes of Connor McGregor twice along with victories over Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.
“Simply grateful, man, that I obtained to reside this life and go on this journey — such a terrific expertise,” stated Poirier post-fight, after a tribute video was proven. “I wish to thank the UFC for giving a child a platform to make one thing of his life and use this as a car to get my household right into a protected place. I am endlessly in debt to the followers, the corporate — combined martial arts has taught me every little thing I do know. I am simply grateful I obtained to stroll this stroll.”
Within the co-main occasion, Paulo Costa (15-4) snapped a three-match dropping streak, defeating Roman Kopylov for a middleweight division win by a unanimous determination.
Daniel Rodriguez (20-5) gained his third consecutive combat after a unanimous determination over Kevin Holland in welterweight motion in a big upset. Rodriguez was +425 to win the combat, however beat Holland (28-14), who misplaced his second combat of 2025.
Within the featherweight division, Patricio Freire beat Dan Ige by a unanimous determination. Freire (37-8) dominated the three-round combat, taking down Ige 5 instances.
The five-fight primary card opened with a unanimous determination upset win by Michael Johnson over Daniel Zellhuber within the light-weight motion. Johnson opened the combat +475 based on Wager MGM. Johnson (25-19) landed 81 strikes in comparison with solely 52 from Zellhuber as he gained his third consecutive combat.
— with information from Sportsnet Workers
