Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier will make the walk to the octagon on Saturday for the UFC 318 main event for the final time. “The Diamond” faces former featherweight champion and current ‘BMF’ titleholder Max Holloway in a trilogy bout.
The trilogy fight comes 13 years after the two met for the first time in a featherweight match at UFC 143 in February 2012. Poirier handed Holloway his first career loss that night in Las Vegas. Their paths would cross again in 2019 for the interim lightweight championship. Poirier won the fight via unanimous decision to pick up the interim title and a second victory over Holloway.
Former middleweight champion and current UFC analyst Michael Bisping weighed in on the UFC 318 trilogy bout and believes the result will be the same as their first two encounters.
“We know that Dustin beat him twice when Max made his debut and then they fought for the interim title,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Max was the younger guy. Dustin was older but more experienced. He had the man strength and stuff like that… That will work against him now.
“He is the older guy. He’s got more wear and tear on the body. There is a reason that he’s retiring. He’s made a fortune, He’s made lots of money. He’s. made his mark in the sport, and at some point you’ve just got to say, ‘I’m good with what I’ve achieved,” continued Bisping.
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“Fighting Max Holloway for the BMF belt in New Orleans, in his hometown, it’s the perfect send off, but will it be fairytale ending because Max Holloway at 155 is a problem. He’s got the best boxing in the UFC remember.”
Bisping doesn’t anticipate either fighter looking for takedowns and expects the fight to play out mostly on their feet. While he believes Poirier has more power in his punches, Bisping thinks Holloway has the more technical boxing skills.
“I think Max Holloway probably has the cleaner boxing. I think he’s got the speed, but Dustin Poirier has the power. He’s got more ways to win and he’s just got that dog him in,” Bisping said. “Dustin Poirier is going to walk away and he’s going to walk away a winner.”
