Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway will reveal their UFC rivement again when they step into the Octagon one last time on UFC 318.
With Dustin Poirier who announced his retirement of MMA, Dana White took everything out of the closet to give him a shipment that fits “the diamond”.
Poirier and Holloway have already fought twice in the UFC, where Poirier won both times in two of the most exciting battles in the MMA history.
The first was an electric competition, but what followed was it a fight with the Korean zombie that Poirier will want to forget.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Dustin Poirier forced Max Holloway to type in a first round
The first time Poirier and Holloway got together the Octagon in the UFC 143, it was a short night for the couple.
Holloway was a relatively unknown at the time and only stepped in in the short term to face Poirier because of an injury to Ricardo Lamas, who had replaced the wounded Erik Koch.
This gave Holloway the chance to make his UFC debut as a sparkling 20-year-old. Given that Poirier was an up-and-comer on a streak of three win, this fight went exactly as you would imagine.
Holloway came from the blocks flying with some jumping knee attacks that Poirier easily prevented. “The Diamond” prevented many impressive strikes from “blessed” and took it off halfway with an impressive throw.
He assembled the younger hunter and managed to lock up a sitting triangle -arm bar that Holloway could not do anything about, but tap and let the referee end the fight.
It was an extensive, dominant victory for Poirier that everyone expected, although he might have become complacent when he took the Korean zombie in his next fight.
The Korean zombie defeated Dustin Poirier through the entry only three months later
Poirier walked into Fuel TV in 2012 with the chance to have a chance on the UFC -Fedweight title, but that soon all came down to “The Diamond”.
His opponent that night, Chan sang Jung, better known as the Korean Zombie, who had become a fan favorite hunter for his all-action style and incredible and unique fights.
This was no different, and both men pushed each other to the extreme and pushed one of the most complete fights in the UFC history.
Poirier and Zombie were busy with a wild back and forth war, combining striking, grabs and submissions in perfect harmony, making this fight the perfect introduction to what MMA is and why it is so exciting.
In the second round, Zombie hit a beautiful flying knee that Poirier did not know before he landed many more knees when he let him go back against the cage.
Poirier tried a Speer -Tackle on Zombie, who rolled beautifully through the attack and switched on top of his opponent, while fans “Zombie!” Sang as recognition for his impressive maneuver.
The game went in a way back and forth to the fourth round, when a punch combination followed by another flying knee Poirier broke to the canvas.
Zombie quickly locked a choke hold before the referee told him to release it because Poirier was unconscious and he was announced as the winner.
This was one of the best fights of the year and even received the 2012 Fight of the Year Award through the Wrestling Observer newsletter.
However, Poirier never expected that they have so many problems after an extensive victory over Holloway just a few months earlier.