One last time.
Former UFC featherweight champion, Max Holloway, will (permanently) return to the 155-pound weight class in hopes of avenging two previous losses to former interim lightweight titleholder, Dustin Poirier, atop the UFC 318 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., July 19, 2025 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The “BMF” title will be up for grabs in their five-round headliner.
Holloway (26-8) is looking to rebound from his knockout loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 last fall. “Blessed” was submitted by Poirier when they first went to war at UFC 143 all the way back in 2012, then went down to “The Diamond” on points when they ran it back for the substitute strap at UFC 236 in early 2019.
Poirier (30-9, 1 NC), three years older than the Hawaiian at 36, has not competed since falling to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 last June. The Louisianan is expected to retire in the wake of his final Holloway fight, win or lose, and will undoubtedly join the promotion’s Hall of Fame at some point in the foreseeable future.
“I came up to them with the idea that I would love to lay the gloves down where I picked them up, in Louisiana,” Poirier told Jim Rome. “The UFC hasn’t been here in 10 or 11 years, so to bring the organization, bring the UFC back to the state of Louisiana and retire here it means a lot to me.”
“I’ve been in the UFC so long and done so much with them, I personally thought when I brought this idea to them, since they haven’t been here in so long, that they would kind of brush it aside,” Poirier continued. “But they entertained it, and I was so excited when they called me back and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to get in touch with Louisiana, get in touch with New Orleans, and make something happen.’”
Expect more UFC 318 fight card announcements in the coming weeks.
