UFC 318 Headliner Dustin Poirier did what Ilia Topuria could not – let this man predict against Max Holloway.
Poirier will soon be walking to the Octagon for the last time, because the Fan Fanourite Lightweight hangs the gloves after 18 years as an active MMA hunter.
His farewell comes close to home in New Orleans, where Poirier retires at UFC 318 in a main event BMF title fight against well -known enemy Max Holloway.
The Louisianan has already become 'blessed' twice. And the winning record of Poirier has ensured that one UFC legend has broken his series of Pro-Holloway predictions
Chael Sonnen chooses Dustin Poirier to retire on UFC 318
During a video that was recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, the former two-part UFC-titleer Chael Sonnen gave his official prediction for Saturday's main event.
'The Bad Guy' has been an avid supporter of Holloway's for years, even correctly supported to beat Justin Gaethje on UFC 300 before choosing him as the first to defeated Ilia Topuria in their title fight last October.
This time, however, Sonnen feels different.
“Dustin Poirier will beat Max Holloway for the third time,” said Sonnen. “That is my official prediction.
“I can't praise Max. I think Max is just all time. … I never chose Max, ever. I had Max about Ilia! I had Max about Gaethje! … I choose Max. I wasn't against Max. The second time against Dustin.
“It is not a comment at all about Max's skills. It is the fact that they did not fight once, but twice,” Sonnen went on. “It doesn't feel like (the first two fights) where you can identify something … There was nothing to lead a trained eye to believe if you do this again, you will have a different result.
“They are even money, guys … so you see something that I am not … Everything here that we have explained all the favors Dustin.”
Max Holloway can be 0-3 in another UFC trilogy
If Sonnen's prediction comes out on Fight Night, Holloway will again have fallen on the wrong side of a 3-0 score in a UFC trilogy.
The first three-field series of the Hawaiian met Alexander Volkanovski. After two narrow and competitive battles had gone the way of the Australian, where the Rematch was particularly controversial, there was little doubt about the third.
Volkanovski surpassed Holloway on UFC 276 in 2022 and beat 'blessed' in 25 minutes on the way to a crooked decision in Las Vegas.
The first time finished by Poirier and then in a memorable but not precisely difficult to score, the pressure on Holloway is to withdraw one on his latest triple UFC rival.