Max Holloway had another outstanding night at the office, but that doesn’t mean he’s fully satisfied with how it ended.
“Blessed” threw down with longtime rival Dustin Poirier for a third time in the main event of UFC 318 and not only did he send Poirier into retirement in style, he also finally scored a win in their three-fight series. The dramatic battle seemed to be a shoo-in for Saturday’s Fight of the Night award, but that bonus money instead went to a preliminary fight between Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori.
Suffice to say, Holloway wants answers from UFC CEO Dana White for the perceived snub.
“I mean, he can still crack,” Holloway said of his last fight with Poirier. “He still hits hard as shit. You saw what happened in that third round. Even the first round, too, I was like, oh yeah, I got him. And then I was like, what the hell, bro? This guy kept coming back. I kept forgetting this is his retirement fight, his name’s the diamond, so I’m happy we got to give the guy the five-round war.
“I hope you guys gave shit to Dana. How the hell did we not get Fight of the Night? What is he thinking? Come on, Dana.”
Jokes aside, Holloway has mixed feelings about again being called upon to shut the door on a fellow legend’s career. In 2023, Holloway was the final opponent for South Korean star Chan Sung Jung a.k.a. “The Korean Zombie” and he won that fight as well, flattening Jung for a brutal knockout in the third round.
Holloway shared his appreciation for Poirier and Jung, two fighters he’ll forever be connected to.
“I’m pretty happy,” Holloway said. “Like I said, though, it sucks, I came in here to be spoiler, that’s what I’m going to do, but it sucks to do it against a man like him. I had to do it against Korean Zombie and now I do it against Dustin. These guys are just great people. Forget what they did in the fight game, they’re just great human beings. They’re just great people and I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him and what he did. He is a ‘BMF’ in every sense of the word.
“He was up 2-0, done, gave me the opportunity to get him back in the last fight, that’s what BMFs do. And he got to walk out with ‘Weezy’ [Lil Wayne]. He got Weezy to put the belt on us, so that’s pretty amazing.”
Holloway has now won two straight fights at 155 pounds. At UFC 300 in April 2024, Holloway scored an unbelievable last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje to win the “BMF” belt, then parlayed that highlight into a shot at then-featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Unfortunately for Holloway, he ended up suffering the first knockout loss of his career when he challenged Topuria at UFC 308.
Now, Topuria holds the UFC lightweight title after recently defeating Charles Oliveira for a vacant belt, and Holloway sees a path where he could rematch Topuria sooner than expected.
“I’ve been telling you guys all week, this sport is about having moments,” Holloway said. “I’m glad I went here, I did this moment, and we’ll see what happens. If it’s Ilia, the ball is in the UFC’s court. I’m down for whatever. If it’s Ilia, it’s Ilia. If it’s the guy that he just beat, Oliveira, I have history with him. The whole top 10, there’s a lot of fun fights for me here at lightweight and I’m excited.”