UFC Welterweight Competier Daniel Rodriguez was accused of cheating by Kevin Holland after their wild war on UFC 318.
While Dustin Poirier's pension was the largest head of UFC 318, Welterweights Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez fans treated until perhaps the best fight of the night.
Holland and Rodriguez put one of the best fights of the year on UFC 318, in a back and forth war from start-to-finish. Both hunters were about to finish during the fight and draw huge reactions from the crowd of New Orleans.
Rodriguez ran away with a decision victory on Holland to crush the latter to give UFC history this year.
After their fight, Holland's first post-fighting statement raised eyebrows after he accused Rodriguez of using a forbidden substance to make it more difficult to struggle to struggle.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
Kevin Holland hinted to Daniel Rodriguez who possibly 'lubricate' on UFC 318
In a recent message to X, Holland hinted on Rodriguez 'Greasing' in their UFC 318 fight.
“That boy was just a good boxing,” said Holland. “Sorry for all the parlays that we f ***** up.”
In a recent appearance on the Ariel Helwani show, Rodriguez responded to the tweet of Holland.
“He said I was slippery and I was hard to catch, but that is sweat, Bro,” said Rodriguez. 'I assume [he thought I was greasing]But there were not too many grasping fairs, except in the 3rd round when he went in front of the choke, but he didn't even have it in the right corner. I was able to just turn my body, remove my shoulder and ended up on top again.
“I think that's what he could be, but as I said, I was just sweating,” Rodriguez continued. “One thing I did, as a kind of strategy, I was shaved my head. My head was freshly shaved. I knew that if he tried to get me into the d'Arce, I would slide my head out of the way.” (H/t Santiago Ponzinibbio and Alex Morono.
In the meantime, the loss of Holland at UFC 318 eliminated the possibility to match its 2020 UFC record with five wins in one year.
Dustin Poirier doubled during the middle of the fight during the pension at UFC 318
Two battles after the wild scrap of Rodriguez and Holland lost Poirier to Max Holloway in his pension fight in the main event. Poirier and Holloway completed their trilogy with an immediate classic, before Poirier dropped the gloves in the octagon and doubled his retirement.
Poirier admitted that he received a more conservative approach to his UFC 318 fight than all the other performance in his career. He admitted that he concentrated on self-preservation, especially late in the fight, while Holloway tried to lure him in a Barn burner in the last seconds.
Poirier's pension fight was unique in many facets, including the fact that he had to hang the gloves in his home state Louisiana. Few hunters in the UFC history have had the opportunity to head a card near where they grew up for their last performance in the Octagon.