Dustin Poirier’s coach reflects on ‘nightmare’ moment that his retirement fight nearly ended in ‘worst-case scenario’

Mike Brown recalls his reaction to Dustin Poirier getting dropped by Max Holloway in the first round

Dustin Poirier will be remembered as one of the most consistently entertaining fighters that we have ever seen inside the Octagon.

His ability to continue fighting in the eye of the storm has led to some incredible battles and ‘The Diamond’ needed to rely on this once again at UFC 318.

Poirier was dropped by Max Holloway in the opening round and all of a sudden, fans around the world looked on in fear at the prospect of his retirement fight ending in a devastating loss.

His coach, Mike Brown, reflected on this moment in an interview with MMA Fighting.

“It was scary as hell. I thought oh no, it was like worst-case scenario. He got hurt bad, he dropped and now all of a sudden he’s mounted. Almost like a body triangle, almost the worst situation you could be in. It’s like oh no, how does he get out of this? This is not what we want.

“But somehow like he does, he survived it, battled out, got back to his feet, the place went nuts. Then he dropped Max shortly after in the next round. So it brought some big drama to the event and made for an exciting show.”

As Brown stated, in the end, the early adversity that Poirier came back from only made for a more entertaining fight that showed exactly why he’s so beloved.

“Had he got stopped in the first, that would have been terrible. Then, we’d be singing a different tune. We’d all be not so content with what went down. It would be a nightmare. But it was a great fight.”

Mike Brown was ‘happy’ that Dustin Poirier went for ‘one more guillotine for the road’

After being hurt in the first round, Dustin Poirier responded in the second in what was a round of the year contender for 2025.

The round ended with Poirier dropping Max Holloway before quickly jumping for his signature guillotine choke as he tried to pull off an iconic finish.

It has been a joke for some time now that his coaches hate when he does this, but on this occasion, Mike Brown was happy to see ‘The Diamond’ attempt to produce something special.

“Honestly in that moment, I was happy he went for it,” Brown said. “I was like wow, I was thinking damn, there is a god. If he hits this, there’s no doubt about it, there is a god and he is involved in fighting.

“We thought there was no chance he was ever going to be in a position to be jumping guillotine. There he was. He had one more guillotine for the road.”