Video: Max Holloway towers over Dustin Poirier in first face off for UFC 318 ‘BMF’ title fight

Jesse Holland is among the longest-tenured media professionals in the combat sports news space, covering MMA, professional wrestling and boxing on a full-time basis since early 2004.

Ex-featherweight champion Max Holloway will put his “BMF” belt on the line against former interim lightweight titleholder Dustin Poirier in “The Diamond’s” final Octagon appearance atop the UFC 318 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat., July 19, 2025 inside Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Holloway and Poirier came face-to-to face last night in “The Big Easy” to help promote this weekend’s trilogy. “Blessed” appears to have a significant size advantage heading into their five-round headliner; however, it did little to help the Hawaiian in his first two fights against Poirier, losing by submission at UFC 143 and then by unanimous decision at UFC 236.

“Max Holloway is going to make adjustments,” former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz said in his breakdown for ESPN. “The No. 1 adjustment is start with the hands, finish with the kicks because this man’s moving backwards. Holloway’s got nasty, very, very good kicks with a lot of dexterity. The way Max can beat the boxing of Poirier is by using his kicks and using his range. This teep kick slides in there like a jab. I think we’re gonna see more kicks, more knees, more elbows, and a lot more trickiness out of Max Holloway this time.”

We’ll find out in just a few days.

LIVE! Watch UFC 318 PPV On ESPN+ Here!

LEGENDARY TRILOGY / BMF SHOWDOWN! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues its 2025 pay-per-view (PPV) schedule on Sat., July 19, 2025, with a thrilling trilogy set to headline UFC 318 from inside Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In UFC 318’s PPV main event, Max Holloway defends his BMF title against former interim Lightweight champion (and No. 3-ranked contender), Dustin Poirier, in a high-stakes, five-round clash that will mark the final fight for “The Diamond” before he retires from the sport. UFC 318’s PPV co-main event features Middleweight contenders Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov in a pivotal 185-pound bout rescheduled from UFC 317. UFC 318 will also showcase a Welterweight clash between Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez, a Featherweight showdown pitting Dan Ige vs. Patricio Pitbull, a Lightweight bout featuring Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber and much more! UFC 318’s start time is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. ET (“Early Prelims”), 8 p.m. ET (“Prelims” undercard) and 10 p.m. ET (PPV main card).

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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 318 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 318 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 318: “Holloway vs. Poirier 3” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 318 fight card and PPV lineup click here.