The third fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier is the UFC 318 main event on July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The pair square off in a five-rounder at lightweight. The latter came out victorious on both previous occasions.
Poirier (30-9, 1 NC) won their first fight in February 2012 by submission in the opening round of their contest at featherweight. In April 2019, the native of Lafayette, Louisiana landed the interim UFC lightweight belt, scoring a unanimous decision.
Former featherweight champion Holloway (26-8) puts his “BMF” belt on the line and looks to avenge two previous losses to Poirier. The 33-year-old native of Honolulu, Hawaii is coming off a defeat by knockout in the third round against Ilia Topuria last October at UFC 308 in his third bid to reclaim the 145 lbs strap.
36-year-old Poirier lost his previous bout last June at UFC 302 by submission in the first round against Islam Makhachev in his third attempt to become full champion at 155 lbs.
The promotion confirmed Max Holloway vs Dustin Poirier 3 as the UFC 318 main event on Friday. The latter also announced that the outing will be his last fight.
“We are coming back to New Orleans. The UFC is coming back to New Orleans in July,” Dustin Poirier said on The Pat McAfee Show. “July 19th. It’s going to be my final fight. I’m going to lay the gloves down in Louisiana, where it all started for me. The whole journey started there.”
“Me and Max Holloway are going to fight five rounds. Main event. Pay-per-view. For his current ‘BMF’ title.”
“Max is a legend. I said legends only. There is not a better guy I could think of to fight in my retirement fight.”
“I was his first fight in the UFC back in 2012, and he is going to be my last fight in the UFC. So it’s an honor – he’s a legend, former champion, undisputed, current ‘BMF’ champion. So we’re going to put on another war.”
The co-main event and other bouts featured on the UFC 318 fight card are expected to be confirmed shortly.