Max Holloway responds to claims that he pulled back against Dustin Poirier… ‘There are people talking madness’

Holloway responds to claims that he pulled back on Dustin Poirier

Although fans were expecting a brutal back and forth fight, it didn’t exactly play out like that, even though both fighters had their moments of success throughout the five rounds.

In the opening round, ‘Blessed’ dropped the former interim lightweight champion with a nice combination and pounced on him in an attempt to finish the fight.

However, fans and former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling claimed online that Holloway pulled back on Poirier, purposely not trying to finish him.

“I’m gonna address this, because there are people talking madness saying that I went easy on Dustin in the first round after dropping him and that I let him off the hook because I didn’t want his retirement fight to go that quick,” Holloway began to explain in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I’m like, nah, I wish the retirement fight (went quick). In my mind I hit him and I’m like, oh my god we’re getting out of here in one round let’s go but Dustin is strong as nails. I put it on him, I kept hitting him and he just wouldn’t go away, his name is the diamond for a reason,” Holloway continued.

Holloway provides disappointing return update

Despite coming out of the fight against Poirier relatively unscathed, Holloway has revealed that he will likely be out of action for a little bit of time.

‘Blessed’ was hopeful of making a return before the end of the year, potentially fighting Ilia Topuria or Charles Oliveira, however, he has stated that he will not be fighting again this year due to a brutal hand injury suffered in the fight.