Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight in New Orleans spoiled as Holloway retains UFC title

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Max Holloway said he wanted to play spoiler, and he did it Saturday night (July 19) in the UFC 318 main event at the Smoothie King Center.

Holloway defeated retiring Louisiana legend Dustin Poirier by unanimous decision to retain the UFC BMF Championship. The victory was Holloway’s first in three fights against Poirier, who beat him in 2012 and 2019.

The fight was a financial win for the city. According to New Orleans & Company and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, the sellout crowd of 18,138 generated $8.09 million in ticket sales, making the event the highest-grossing gate in Smoothie King Center history.

“Tonight was a huge success, UFC president and CEO Dana White said. ”The gate, the buzz, the energy in this town. It couldn’t have been better. I’m very happy.”

Holloway (28-8) retained his BMF title after landing 98 more strikes (201-109) and landing 53% of his significant strikes.

Holloway, 33, was the quicker fighter for the entire match, knocking the 36-year-old Poirier off his feet early in the first round.

In the second, another flurry of combinations put Poirier on the mat again, followed by two minutes of dominant grappling.

“I’m pretty happy,” Holloway said.

Poirier can still hit hard, he said, “but he kept coming back and back. I came in and I knew I was going to try and be the spoiler and the villain.”

Poirier’s best chance came in the last 30 seconds of the second round, getting Holloway on the ground with a chokehold and several ground punches before the round ended.

The loss ends a brilliant career for Poirier, the Lafayette native who finishes his career with a 30-10 record.

The UFC Lightweight Interim Champion in 2019, Poirier also defeated Connor McGregor twice, in addition to victories over Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.

“Obviously, I wanted to win, but being inside the eye of the storm I thought the fight was a lot closer,” Poirier said. “I thought I had him out in the second round, we couldn’t hear the bell. The fight just felt a lot closer. It is what it is though.

“Going into the fifth round, I thought it was close. I feel like I could have maybe put myself in harm’s way more. I could have taken more chances, but I didn’t want to take too many risks. I thought I fought smart. I tried to win.”

In the co-main event, Paulo Costa (15-4) snapped a three-match losing streak, defeating Roman Kopylov for a middleweight division win by a unanimous decision.

Daniel Rodriguez (20-5) won his third consecutive fight after a unanimous decision over Kevin Holland in welterweight action in a significant upset. Rodriguez was +425 to win the fight, but beat Holland (28-14), who lost his second fight of 2025.

In the featherweight division, Patricio Freire beat Dan Ige by a unanimous decision. Freire (37-8) dominated the three-round fight, taking down Ige five times.

The five-fight main card opened with a unanimous decision upset win by Michael Johnson over Daniel Zellhuber in lightweight action. Johnson (25-19) landed 81 strikes compared to only 52 from Zellhuber as he won his third consecutive fight.

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