New Orleans — Max Holloway had to play spoiler at UFC 318, raining all over the retirement parade of Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier, who was looking to sail off into the sunset at home in Louisiana, ending his own lengthy UFC career.
Poirier is arguably a future UFC Hall of Famer, a former interim champ. Holloway (27-8) is a lock for the Hall of Fame, an ex-featherweight champ and now, following a unanimous decision victory in a real thriller on Saturday, the first man to successfully defend the UFC “BMF” championship.
That said, Holloway, who won one back after being down 2-0 to Poirier in their first two fights, didn’t exactly reveal in the experience.
“It sucks to do it against a man like that. I had to do it against Korean Zombie, and now I had to do it against Dustin,” Holloway reflected following the bout, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “These guys are just great people. Forget what they did in the fight game, they’re just great human beings, they’re just great people. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him and what he did.”
The Hawaiian was gracious in victory in the cage, ceding the mic to Poirier for his farewell moment, and equally so in his backstage press conference appearance. “He’s a BMF in every sense of the word. He was up 2-0, gave me the opportunity to get him back in the last fight. That’s what BMFs do,” Holloway pointed out.
If there was any controversy about UFC 318’s main event, it was that it didn’t get the respect due from the UFC brass. Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez, and Holloway vs. Poirier, appeared to be neck-and-neck for Fight of the Night. Instead, the promotion awarded the honor to Brendan Allen vs. Marvin Vettori, which saw another local star in Allen come away with a win.
“I hope you guys gave sh*t to Dana. How the hell did we not get Fight of the Night, bro? What is he thinking?!” Holloway exclaimed. “Come on, Dana!”
Max Holloway now has wins over Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier at lightweight and is 4-1 in his last five fights, the lone loss coming in a featherweight title fight against Ilia Topuria. Who happens to have moved up to lightweight, claiming the 155lb title at UFC 317 last month. It appears the pair are on a collision course for a second title fight in their new weight class.
“I’ve been telling you guys all week, this sport is about moments. This sport is about having moments. I’m glad I won here, I did this moment, and we’ll see what happens,” Holloway replied when asked about his next assignment. “If it’s Ilia, the ball is in UFC’s court, I’m down for whatever. If it’s Ilia, it’s Ilia. If it’s the guy that he just beat [Charles Oliveira], I have had history with him. The whole top 10, there’s a lot of fun fights for me here at lightweight, and I’m excited.”
Dana White, speaking with the media earlier in the evening, suggested that were the two to face off again, both the lightweight and BMF belts would be on the line. It’s clearly on Topuria’s mind; he turned up carrying his own, fake “BMF” belt in conjunction with the pair’s first meeting.
Holloway is game to have both belts on the line, while questioning why Ilia even bothered with the theatrics of carrying his own, self-commissioned title.
“For sure. At the end of the day, the UFC didn’t put it up. It is what it is. It just makes no sense what he’s doing, walking around with it,” noted Holloway, who also pointed out that Islam Makhachev didn’t walk around with a prop featherweight belt after beating Alexander Volkanovski twice. “The belt wasn’t on the line, get over it, whatever.”
Watch the full UFC 318 post-fight press conference with Max Holloway above.
