logo
Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier can't believe UFC 318 Fight of the Night bonus wasn't theirs

Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier can't believe UFC 318 Fight of the Night bonus wasn't theirs

USA Today20-07-2025
Congratulations to Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori, but there's no way the UFC 318 Fight of the Night bonus should've gone to them.
At least that's how Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier feel about it.
Holloway and Poirier put on a Fight of the Year candidate in Saturday night's main event at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Holloway beat Poirier by unanimous decision in their trilogy, which also served as "The Diamond's" retirement fight.
While Holloway vs. Poirier 3 was full of action and big moments, including each man knocking the other down in the second round, an extra $50,000 went to Allen and Vettori instead. Allen came away with a three-round unanimous decision win over Vettori.
Backstage after UFC 318 concluded, Holloway and Poirier found out together that they were snubbed for the bonus. Their reaction was caught on video (via X), with Holloway calling the UFC's decision "bullsh*t" and Poirier highlighting that "we knocked each other out in the same round."
The moment Dustin and Max find out they didn't got FOTN bonus#UFC318 pic.twitter.com/z7KFnorgUc
Holloway reiterated his disbelief to reporters during the UFC 318 post-fight news conference.
"I hope you guys give sh*t to (Dana White)," Holloway said. "How the hell did we not get Fight of the Night, bro? What is he thinking, bro? C'mon, Dana."
Holloway and Poirier concluded their rivalry with Poirier up 2-1 after "The Diamond" won the first two encounters in 2012 and 2019 before Holloway's victory Saturday night.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss
UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss

Yahoo

time5 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss

Din Thomas was impressed with the fighting spirit of Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 9, but can't overlook the negative career impact of the result against Reiner de Ridder. Thomas was on-site Saturday in Abu Dhabi serving as the broadcast analyst when former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) suffered a split decision loss to de Ridder (20-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at Etihad Arena. It was a competitive battle with both men getting hurt at moments and fighting hard until the end, and two of three judges had it for the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder. At could've been a deflating moment for Whittaker, who lost consecutive fights for the first time since 2014. Instead, he only said he was "butt hurt" about what happened then left the octagon with no further excuses. And Thomas likes what he saw in that moment. "Even when the result was read and he lost, he still seemed to be in a good place," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "I like this for Robert Whittaker because he's not sour, he didn't seem like he was complaining and he wasn't pointing fingers at anybody. He knew what he was in with that fight and he knew it was a tough fight, he knew it wasn't a dominant performance so neither fighter could complain either way. "I was really impressed with Robert Whittaker his ability to withstand those hard times in the fight and have a lot of positivity left a lot of confidence in his ability to win. ... In the trenches in this fight, Robert Whittaker still seemed to be able to bounce back, and I liked that. I thought it was inspiring." Despite his commendable performance, results are almost always the ultimate dictator in the UFC, and now Whittaker's record shows four losses in his past seven fights, albeit to elite competition. At 34, Whittaker has logged more than four hours of total fight time during his run at 185 pounds. It's a crossroads moment going forward, and with the top of the division being as intruiging as ever, Thomas said it would be a good time for Whittaker to drop down in rankings and fight someone who will truly serve as a barometer. "I think you give him Roman Kopylov," Thomas said. "I think you give him Kopylov before you start feeding him to the guys. Before we say, 'We're done with you and we're going to start feeding you.' Because Kopylov is somewhere in the back of the rankings. You give him Kopylov to say, 'We're giving you No. 15 and if you win that we keep you up here. We'll keep you fighting these guys. But if you lose that, now you've got to fight the up-and-comers.'" Fighting up-and-comers is surely a far cry from what Whittaker wants to do, but Thomas said it's not an easy spot. "The Reaper" needs a victory to keep his head above water with the emerging contenders, but as far as the pre-fight plans he expressed to have a "fairytale end" to his career with UFC gold? Thomas said that seems like a long shot. "No, if I had to bet I wouldn't assume he gets there," Thomas said. "It's interesting though because he said he had a four-fight plan to get back to a title. Now it looks like it's going to take about four fights. With a win over RDR it would've of been less than four fights." To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Robert Whittaker's title days over after Abu Dhabi loss

UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss
UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss

USA Today

time7 minutes ago

  • USA Today

UFC analyst says Robert Whittaker's title days over after UFC on ABC 9 loss

Din Thomas was impressed with the fighting spirit of Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 9, but can't overlook the negative career impact of the result against Reiner de Ridder. Thomas was on-site Saturday in Abu Dhabi serving as the broadcast analyst when former middleweight champion Whittaker (26-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) suffered a split decision loss to de Ridder (20-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at Etihad Arena. It was a competitive battle with both men getting hurt at moments and fighting hard until the end, and two of three judges had it for the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder. At could've been a deflating moment for Whittaker, who lost consecutive fights for the first time since 2014. Instead, he only said he was "butt hurt" about what happened then left the octagon with no further excuses. And Thomas likes what he saw in that moment. "Even when the result was read and he lost, he still seemed to be in a good place," Thomas told MMA Junkie. "I like this for Robert Whittaker because he's not sour, he didn't seem like he was complaining and he wasn't pointing fingers at anybody. He knew what he was in with that fight and he knew it was a tough fight, he knew it wasn't a dominant performance so neither fighter could complain either way. "I was really impressed with Robert Whittaker his ability to withstand those hard times in the fight and have a lot of positivity left a lot of confidence in his ability to win. ... In the trenches in this fight, Robert Whittaker still seemed to be able to bounce back, and I liked that. I thought it was inspiring." Despite his commendable performance, results are almost always the ultimate dictator in the UFC, and now Whittaker's record shows four losses in his past seven fights, albeit to elite competition. At 34, Whittaker has logged more than four hours of total fight time during his run at 185 pounds. It's a crossroads moment going forward, and with the top of the division being as intruiging as ever, Thomas said it would be a good time for Whittaker to drop down in rankings and fight someone who will truly serve as a barometer. "I think you give him Roman Kopylov," Thomas said. "I think you give him Kopylov before you start feeding him to the guys. Before we say, 'We're done with you and we're going to start feeding you.' Because Kopylov is somewhere in the back of the rankings. You give him Kopylov to say, 'We're giving you No. 15 and if you win that we keep you up here. We'll keep you fighting these guys. But if you lose that, now you've got to fight the up-and-comers.'" Fighting up-and-comers is surely a far cry from what Whittaker wants to do, but Thomas said it's not an easy spot. "The Reaper" needs a victory to keep his head above water with the emerging contenders, but as far as the pre-fight plans he expressed to have a "fairytale end" to his career with UFC gold? Thomas said that seems like a long shot. "No, if I had to bet I wouldn't assume he gets there," Thomas said. "It's interesting though because he said he had a four-fight plan to get back to a title. Now it looks like it's going to take about four fights. With a win over RDR it would've of been less than four fights." To hear more from Thomas, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast with MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn above.

UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card Set With Late Main Event Change
UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card Set With Late Main Event Change

Forbes

time8 minutes ago

  • Forbes

UFC Vegas 108 Fight Card Set With Late Main Event Change

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 12: Tatsuro Taira of Japan prepares to face Brandon Royval in a ... More flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) The UFC has not held a fight card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas since late May. That changes on Saturday, when the promotion heads back to the facility for UFC Vegas 108. The August 2 UFC Fight Night card got its main event on short notice as Hyun Sung Park has agreed to replace the injured Amir Albazi against Tatsuro Taira in a flyweight scrap. UFC Vegas 108 Main Card Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park - Flyweight Chris Duncan vs. Mateusz Rebecki - Lightweight Elves Brener vs. Esteban Ribovics - Lightweight Nora Cornolle vs. Karol Rosa - Women's bantamweight Neil Magny vs. Elizeu Zaleski - Welterweight Danny Silva vs. Kevin Vallejos - Featherweght UFC Abu Dhabi Results: Winners And Losers Whittaker Vs. De Ridder Card UFC Vegas 108 Preliminary Card Nathan Fletcher vs. Rinya Nakamura - Bantamweight Tresean Gore vs. Rodolfo Vieira - Middleweight Nick Klein vs. Andrey Pulayev - Middleweight Felipe Bunes vs. Rafael Estevam - Flyweight Piera Rodriguez vs. Ketlen Souza - Strawweight UFC Vegas 108 Main Event: Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 12: Tatsuro Taira of Japan reacts after a flyweight fight against ... More Brandon Royval during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Tatsuro Taira (16-1) rose through the UFC flyweight ranks fairly quickly. He joined the UFC in May 2022 with a record of 10-0, and after winning the Shooto flyweight title. Taira opened his UFC career with a unanimous decision win over Carlos Candelario in May 2022. He followed that with back-to-back submission wins in contests where he earned 'Performance of the Night' bonuses, defeating C.J. Vergara and Jesús Santos Aguilar. Wins over Edgar Chairez and Carlos Hernandez in 2023 followed. In June, Taira got the first true test of his UFC career when he faced Alex Perez in a main event on a UFC Fight Night card at the Apex. At the time, Taira was the No. 13 ranked fighter in the UFC's flyweight division, and Perez, who had fought Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC 125-pound title in 2020, was ranked No. 5. The fight ended when Taira took the back of his opponent in the center of the Octagon and forced him to the mat, putting enormous pressure on Perez's knee and causing an injury that brought the fight to a halt in the second stanza. From all appearances, and judging from his comments after the victory, the move that finished the contest was a designed technique. That win put Taira at No. 5 in the UFC rankings, earning him a shot at former UFC flyweight title challenger Brandon Royval, who entered the October 2024 contest as the No. 1 ranked in the UFC's 125-pound division. Royval and Taira put on a 'Fight of the Night' bonus-winning scrap, but the more experienced Royval took home the split-decision win, handing Taira the first loss of his professional career. The 25-year-old Taira is currently the No. 6 ranked UFC flyweight. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MAY 17: HyunSung Park of South Korea reacts after a submission victory against ... More Carlos Hernandez in a flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on May 17, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) Hyun Sung Park (10-0) won Road to UFC in early 2023 with a knockout of Seung Guk Choi. He followed that with a knockout of Shannon Ross in late 2023. Park did not compete in 2024 having had fights against Andre Lima and Nyamjargal Tumendemberel cancelled. He returned to the Octagon in March, scoring a first-round submission win over Carlos Hernandez at UFC Vegas 106. I wrote of the 29-year-old at the time, 'HyunSung Park looked excellent at UFC Vegas 106, moving to 3-0 in the UFC's flyweight division. Park used effective striking to hurt Carlos Hernandez against the fence. That striking made Hernandez move to the clinch, but Park showed his overall MMA ability in scoring a takedown, which led to a back take and a rear naked choke sub at 2:26 of Round 1. The 29-year-old Park looks ready for a test in his next outing as he has picked up three finishes in three UFC outings.' He gets that test in a big way and on short notice on Saturday night. Park has only gone the distance once in his MMA career. We will have more on the UFC Vegas 108 fight card as fight night nears, including betting odds, picks, predictions and more. As well as full fight card results, reactions and highlights on fight night.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store