UFC 318 will see Max Holloway put his "BMF" title on the line against Dustin Poirier in a lightweight bout Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Live coverage of UFC 318 early preliminary card kicks off at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday, July 19. Prelims continue at 8 p.m. ET followed by the main card pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway by submission with a triangle armbar at 3:23 in the first round in UFC 143. The fight was Holloway's UFC debut in February of 2012, where he was a late replacement for Ricardo Lamas, who was slated to replace Erik Koch. Jimmy Crute needs a win in the worst way since he has not had his hand raised in his last five outings, losing three and then fighting to a draw against Alonzo Menifield and Rodolfo Bellato. His last win came over five years ago, so if he doesn’t secure one against Marcin Prachnio — who is coming off a loss to Modestas Bukauskas and is just 2-3 in his last five — it could be the end of the road for him inside the Octagon. Paulo Costa is yet another fighter in desperate need of a win on this card. “Borrachinha” is 1-4 in his last five fights and has lost two in a row. His lone win during that span came against Luke Rockhold.
Holloway has built a strong argument for his “best boxer in the UFC” claim. He moves so fluidly from both stances, and he’s equally potent on the front and back foot. Nearly impossible to take down, Holloway has taken apart countless top fighters on the strength of his combinations and volume. It is imperative that Holloway gets the jab going here, but as mentioned, Poirier is going to be trying to shut that down. The solution is a real focus on feinting and winning the hand fight. Holloway has to have other options if Poirier is reaching out to control his jab, like hitting the body with a right hook or quick teep. If Holloway can get his jab going, the rest of his game really opens up. In this match up, I would also like to see more right kicks. Remember when he blasted kicks into the open side of Anthony Pettis and crumbled the former champion? It’s time to bring that approach to open stance fight back into his arsenal. Poirier’s boxing-style defense gave him a lot of trouble, but the right body/right head kick double threat is an effective solution — ask Justin Gaethje.
The always-entertaining but inconsistent Kevin Holland will make his return to action a little over a month after submitting Vicente Luque at UFC 316 . Currently on a two-fight win streak, “Trailblazer” has a chance to lock down his first three-fight win streak in five years against Daniel Rodriguez. Speaking of which, “D-Rod” has really turned it around after suffering a horrible three-fight skid from 2022 to 2024 by winning his last two bouts. This is another fun matchup that is an early favorite for a post-fight bonus. On a more serious note, these guys are always going to be fairly evenly matched at most any point of their careers. They’re both top-class MMA boxers. The first two fights were fun, and I would expect nothing different here. The primary difference is age. Holloway is no spring chicken, but he hasn’t been through as many surgeries as Poirier. If we look at their recent work, Holloway’s showing versus Gaethje at UFC 300 was the single best performance between them. That fight showed that he can be an elite Lightweight in a victory, and I can’t say the same about any of Poirier’s recent showings.
