On July 19, Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier are set to clash for a third time when they meet at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans for the BMF title in the UFC 318 main event.
Ahead of their legendary trilogy fight, the main talking point is about how this will be Poirier’s final fight in the sport, and UFC boss Dana White has labelled him as an ‘all-time great’ having built the entire event around him.
Holloway will be hoping to buck the trend of their first two fights, as Poirier is 2-0 up against ‘Blessed’, having almost ripped his arm off in his UFC debut and then beating him for the interim title in 2019 under the same ceiling.
Beyond that, the 33-year-old fighter made a request to the UFC, aiming to end what he described as “ridiculous.”
Poirier, 35, has teased a star-studded walkout for his curtain call, hinting that Lil Wayne may accompany him to the Octagon in their final clash.
Meanwhile, Holloway has made his own unusual plea to the UFC: he wants to be removed from the featherweight rankings.
Despite his move to lightweight, Holloway is still somehow listed as the division’s number one contender, but he’s made it clear he has no intention of returning.
The BMF title challenger hasn’t fought at featherweight since his brutal KO loss to Ilia Topuria in late 2024.
“I don’t know what you guys are thinking keeping me number one contender there because that’s kind of ridiculous, I’m not going back to 145lbs, I’m over it and it feels good it feels great on them days where you go harder, being able to recover good with meals and eating a little more protein, it’s much better than just toughing it out,” Holloway told MMAJunkie.
“It’s ridiculous, I don’t understand. The rankings care, but I don’t get it, the rankings are all over the place. We go back to the Gaethje fight and Gaethje was the number one contender when I fought him at 155lbs, and he was what, ranked four or five at the time?”
“I thought definitely when the rankings came out I wouldn’t come out at number nine, that’s just ridiculous. The rankings are all over the place.”
History hasn’t been kind to Holloway in trilogies. His three-fight series against Alexander Volkanovski ended without a single win – and ‘Blessed’ doesn’t want it to happen again.
“Making history is great, but I ain’t trying to be the man who fought two trilogies and went 0-3,” Holloway continued.
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