Dustin Poirier put his gloves emotionally down in his home tonight after being defeated by Max Holloway in a unanimous decision defeat in his last fight.
The entire UFC 318 card is built around Poirier, which comes from Lafayette, Louisiana, who comes home to New Orleans for a final ride. And a trilogy with Holloway for the BMF title seemed to be a solid order of the day on paper.
Fortunately, the couple provided a different long night that started with promise and a whole series of finishes, but turned into a slog full of decisions. The lightweight duo set up a show for the raw New Orleans-Mixte and Poirier received a moving broadcast.
Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway UFC 318 Result
Max Holloway is without a doubt one of the most popular and beloved hunters in the history of UFC, but he liked to play the heel for the week as the last enemy of Dustin Poirier. The couple had already fought twice, with the birth city both won, although this time it was Holloway that came in as a BMF champion.
And although Holloway was not as loud as a more division rival like Conor McGregor, he was certainly received as a villain by the New Orleans capacity. Poirier tested the chin of his rival early with a big shot.
One of the more interesting factors in the fight was whether the ability of Holloway to take a blow that is legendary would last after he was first eliminated by Ilia Topuria. It seemed good when he took Poirier in the first single solid photos.
However, it was not all one -way traffic, because Holloway found good photos of his own move from attitude to attitude. And the best shot of De Ronde landed when his right handpoir hit halfway through the action.
Halfway through the second, Holloway landed a large uppercut that staggered and eventually put Poirier down again, which led to a long period of control for the Hawaiian. But when Poirier got up, he dropped Holloway with a right and even went for his notorious guillotine, to the great joy of the crowd.
The third was fought at a slightly slower pace, because both men seemed to remember the danger that it was trading in the bag with the other. And with seconds, Poirier landed large and demonstrably stole the round.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
With a tribute that came in from the combat world, Poirier went to the championship rounds one last time and both men took the pace. The Star of the Birth Tate landed a big combination, but could not avoid large shots of his visiting rival.
When they went to the last round of Dustin Poirier's iconic career, the New Orleans Roar led both men in a fiery battle. A short hint of gloves turned into a combination of Holloway, where the couple continued to participate as they had already done 10 rounds earlier.
With minutes to go, Holloway Poirier seemed to be in eye, which both admitted was an accident after the interruption of a short referee. The round ended on a typical Poirier fashion, with both men broke with large shots.
They agreed to throw hell for leather in the last fairs, which Holloway seemed to favor when Poirier held up for life and got the last bell of his career. After five incredibly tough rounds to score, Holloway retained his 'BMF' belt and received three favorable scorecards of 48-47 and 49-46 × 2.
Dustin Poirier had the legendary UFC career for more than a decade
The reason for such an unprecedented and impressive celebration of a career tonight was simple; Poirier earned it. During an iconic 41-Vecht career that started in 2009, he has always been a game for a fight, even if it does not always mean that he will win.
He came famous within centimeters of de -donated Khabib Nurmagomedov with a guillotine in their collision in the middle. And one could claim that his victory over Max Holloway in their Rematch 2019 was a more legitimate claim on the gold that had been left by Conor McGregor than that of Nurmagomedov.
When the Irishman, that Poirier was going to beat twice after initial loss in 2014, gave up his lightweight belt to fight Floyd Mayweather, the division was left in the dark. A Farcical series of cancellations in Brooklyn on UFC 223 saw the Russian forced to face Al Iiaquinta for the empty belt.
While Iaquinta managed to survive five rounds, he was only ranked at number 11 when he fought against Nurmagomedov. In the meantime, Holloway was the featherweight champion when Poirier beat him in a brutal collision in five rounds.
In general, he could never get the undisputed belt. But he fought for it several times after he continuously climbed to the top of the division at 155LB.