Alexander Volkanovski applauds Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier for 'incredible' UFC 318 bout

USA Today

20-07-2025

Alexander Volkanovski had plenty of praise for Dustin Poirier's retirement fight against Max Holloway.
The main event of UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans for the BMF was filled with emotions as Poirier (30-10 MMA, 22-9 UFC) entered the octagon for the final time. On the other side of the cage was a familiar foe for Volkanovski in Holloway (27-8 MMA, 23-8 UFC), with whom he danced three times, like Poirier has now.
Naturally, the UFC featherweight champ was interested in the outcome and came away very impressed with how Holloway performed after his first knockout loss.
"I'm gonna give Max a moment right now to just say how incredible that was," Volkanovski said on his YouTube channel. "It is not easy to come back from losses. He's showed time and time again – from big losses, not just little losses, like world title losses after tears. Even that last one we've had, our third fight. Like, to win the way I did, you're probably thinking, 'Am I done?' You're gonna start having them negative thoughts.
"For him to bounce back like he did and go on another tear, and then have his moment with Justin Gaethje – already incredible. Then, KO loss. First KO. ... How's he gonna be in a BMF fight coming off a KO loss? And why I mention BMF? BMF, it's BMF. You gotta do the (pointing to the ground). You gotta fight the fight."
Volkanovski praised Holloway for weathering the storm after getting dropped by Poirier, and really digging deep to put on an incredible fight to get back on track after losing to Ilia Topuria in October. For Poirier, Volkanovski believes "The Diamond" should hold his head high, even though he came away with a loss in his retirement fight.
"If you're gonna lose, that's how you lose," Volkanovski said. "That was a mad fight. He hurt Max a lot of times. I thought Dustin still looked great. He did some cool things, still weathered the storm. He looked fit, lasted the whole time. You could even see in the shape the he was in that he was definitely in incredible shape. He put the work in. That's one thing he needs to be proud of – of his career, of who he's been through his career. Not only that, his preparation. Who he was through that career, a guy who turns up in the gym and does what he needs to do. You can tell that he put everything into this. It was going to be a hard fight for him.
"... Nothing to be unhappy about with that. Obviously, he was disappointed, but you shouldn't be disappointed with that. That was a great fight. Another BMF moment."