Preview: UFC 318 ‘Holloway vs. Poirier 3’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday lands in New Orleans for the first time in more than a decade, and it will do so for a special occasion: UFC 318 at the Smoothie King Center was essentially built around the retirement bout of Lafayette, Louisiana, native Dustin Poirier.

The lightweight headliner, which sees Poirier complete his trilogy with Max Holloway, can stand on its own, but matchmakers also did well to stack the main card with an entertaining supporting cast. Paulo Costa, whose appearances typically result in some sort of adventure, draws Roman Kopylov in the middleweight co-main event, while Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez seem like safe bets to put on a show in their welterweight showcase. Rounding out the bill, former two-division Bellator MMA champion Patricio Freire hunts his first UFC win against Dan Ige in a potentially exciting scrap at 145 pounds, and Michael Johnson takes on Daniel Zellhuber in an intriguing lightweight feature.

Now to the UFC 318 “Holloway vs. Poirier 3” preview:

Lightweights

Max Holloway (26-8, 22-8 UFC) vs. Dustin Poirier (30-9, 22-8 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Holloway (-125), Poirier (+105)

It’s hard to ever truly believe in any mixed martial retirement, but if this is in fact it for Poirier’s mixed martial arts career, he has earned the UFC essentially building a card around him as a send-off in his home state of Louisiana. “The Diamond” immediately announced himself as someone to watch as soon as the UFC absorbed World Extreme Cagefighting. Josh Grispi was initially slated to face then-featherweight champion Jose Aldo in 2011, but the Brazilian got injured and Poirier wound up stepping in as a replacement and scoring the upset to become a clear contender. Poirier never quite got over the proverbial hump to top challenger status during his time at 145 pounds, as his aggression cost him in fights against Chan Sung Jung, Cub Swanson and Conor McGregor, but he was a made man as far as fans were concerned thanks to his penchant for exciting wars. They include one of the best fights of 2012 opposite Jung. After the loss to McGregor, Poirier made the choice to move up to 155 pounds, and it became immediately apparent that something new had been unlocked.

Poirier carried his combination of speed and knockout power up a weight class, and, with a fuller gas tank, he was able to pour on offense and run through opponents, putting himself back in contention with four wins in little over a year. A quick knockout loss to Michael Johnson served as a reminder that he could still focus too much on his offense at points. So started Poirier’s efforts to become a smarter and more patient fighter. There were some self-admitted rough patches along the way, as Poirier made some of his wins rougher than they needed to be, but once he eventually turned the corner to become a more thoughtful and counter-oriented threat, the results were outstanding. Poirier scored massive wins over Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and the aforementioned Holloway to earn a shot at then-lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Things didn’t go particularly well in that title shot, but the loss didn’t hurt Poirier much. He rebounded with another excellent fight against Dan Hooker before settling some old scores with McGregor, putting together two dominant wins that also gave him a much-needed boost in star power.

However, another title shot went sideways for Poirier against Charles Oliveira, but that didn’t turn out to be his last shot at lightweight gold. Poirier kept his head above water for a few years after the Oliveira defeat, alternating wins and losses while being a featured fighter in some high-level bouts. When the UFC needed a title challenger for Islam Makhachev in June 2024, Poirier was surprisingly the best available option despite coming off only one victory. For the first time, Poirier overachieved in a title fight. It figured to be a Makhachev showcase on paper, but Poirier turned things into an excellent scrap that saved a lackluster card, forcing the Russian to sneak out a submission in a back-and-forth fight. That would have been a strong note to end on even in a loss, but instead, Poirier gets one last big spot in the UFC’s first trip to Louisiana in a decade, taking on old foe Holloway in what should be another war.



This is clearly meant to be a celebration of Poirier’s career, but Holloway is about as decorated a B-side as you can get, as “Blessed” is more than worthy of getting the same sort of farewell whenever the time comes. Holloway actually made his UFC debut against Poirier back in 2012, showing up at 20 years of age and raw to a level that most UFC signees were not back then before losing a quick fight that was most notable for what both fighters would become. Even after that loss, the UFC was clearly high on Holloway and featured the Hawaiian in some prominent spots as he ironed out the wrinkles, but it was still a shock when things clicked as quickly as they did in 2014. Holloway ran through Will Chope on the first card of that year, then just kept winning, improving from fight to fight and honing one of the best striking games in the sport—a diverse boxing attack that poured an absolutely relentless pace onto his opponents once he got going.

Once all was said and done, Holloway won 13 straight fights over the course of five years, becoming featherweight champion by overwhelming Aldo and then handling the Brazilian and Brian Ortega in his title defenses. Holloway’s next loss came in his 2019 rematch against Poirier—a one-off move up to lightweight that was a fun affair, even if it proved that the two were clearly in different weight classes. After the loss to Poirier, Holloway successfully defended his belt against Frankie Edgar before suddenly getting usurped as the best featherweight in the world. Alexander Volkanovski showed up as the next evolution of the sport, beating Holloway by a larger margin in each fight of their trilogy even while the Hawaiian continued to prove himself as better than any other potential contenders. Starting with the second loss to Volkanovski and particularly after the third, Holloway did an excellent job of continuing to add some new ideas to his game, becoming more patient in a way that still gave his opponents a lot to deal with and even mixing in some wrestling as needed.

So even when Holloway found himself locked out of the featherweight title picture during Volkanovski’s reign, he continued to look excellent while turning away all comers, even before his fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 300. That fight, another trip up to lightweight, was the type of master class only matched by some of Holloway’s other performances. Faced with one of the division’s hardest hitters, Holloway outmaneuvered Gaethje, picked him apart and could have coasted down the stretch but instead stood his ground and threw down before scoring a buzzer-beating knockout. It was the clear highlight of one of the best cards in UFC history, and in terms of Holloway’s career, it set up the lightweight division as a viable path that he has opted to take here after losing a featherweight title fight to Ilia Topuria. By most measures, Holloway is the smart pick, particularly now that he’s a viable lightweight. He’s the younger and more durable fighter, and he has made the type of adjustments to his game in the past six years that will keep him out of the counter-heavy traps where Poirier is at his best. With that said, why pick with your brain in a spot like this? The pick is Poirier via decision.

Continue Reading »
Holloway vs. Poirier
Kopylov vs. Costa
Holland vs. Rodriguez
Ige vs. Freire
Zellhuber vs. Johnson
The Prelims