UFC 318Main card (ESPN)Lightweight: Max Holloway (c) vs. Dustin Poirier
Middleweight: Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov
Welterweight: Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez
Featherweight: Dan Ige vs. Patrício Pitbull
Lightweight: Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber
Preliminary card (ESPN)Bantamweight: Kyler Phillips vs. Vinicius Oliveira
Middleweight: Marvin Vettori vs. Brendan Allen
Welterweight: Francisco Prado vs. Nikolay Veretennikov
Middleweight: Ateba Abega Gautier vs. Robert Valentin
Early preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+ / Disney+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Welterweight: Adam Fugitt vs. Islam Dulatov
Light Heavyweight: Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio
Heavyweight: Ryan Spann vs. Łukasz Brzeski
Middleweight: Brunno Ferreira vs. Jackson McVey
Women's Flyweight: Carli Judice vs. Nicolle Caliari
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_318 Max Holloway's iconic BMF belt will be on the line in this match. He believes Poirier's technical superiority and boxing skills are balanced against Holloway's high-volume punches and stamina. Poirier's wrestling advantage and Holloway's cardio will determine the outcome of the match. Holloway's youth, stamina, and desire to recoup past losses by winning this match make him a dangerous opponent, even more so. With his cardio and technique, he's always been a dangerous BMF.
Nice work. Max still got the BMF belt even after losing against Topuria.
Doesn't really make sense to give 3rd match for this 2 as Dustin had defeated Max twice. Dana is too considerate to give Dustin a shot to the BMF belt for his retirement fight. Or maybe he wants Dustin to stay for more fights if he still have the belt. The crowd number made Dana decide and in anyway, Max still stays in UFC win or lose.
It's the UFC giving Poirier a fight that will make sense before his retirement. And pretty sure Poirier had a say in it too as he prolly won't sign the contract if he thinks it doesn't make sense to him.
He's a legend so he really deserves a good match up against another legend in the sport. Wouldn't surprise me if Holloway decides to retire too after the fight.
The pre fight conference starts in around 9 hours. Not really expecting anything but will still watch it.
UFC 318: Pre Fight Press Conferencehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDwNw2jxz7E
Poirier lost to Justin Gaethje in 2023.
While Max Holloway defeated Gaethje in 2024.
"MMA math" = Poirier is underdog.
But of course, styles determine the outcome of fights.
And so it may not be so simple.
But in the first fight Poirier won.