Latest news with #trilogybout
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dustin Poirier wants Lil Wayne to wrap the BMF belt at UFC 318
NEW ORLEANS – It looks like Lil Wayne will get the honor to wrap the "Baddest Motherf*cker" belt around the winner at this weekend's UFC 318. This Saturday, the BMF title will be up for grabs as Max Holloway puts his belt on the line in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 318 – which takes place at Smoothie King Center (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). The BMF title, separate from the divisional UFC undisputed belts, has been presented on fight night by a special guest other than UFC CEO Dana White, who ordinarily crowns the champions. This time around, both Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) and Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) want that person to be rapper Lil Wayne – who will be walking out Poirier, a fellow Louisiana native, in his retirement fight. "Let Weezy do it," Poirier said when asked about it at Thursday's UFC 318 pre-fight press conference. Holloway has no objections, "I'm not going to disagree with that." There's been three BMF title fights since the inauguration of the belt – which was original supposed to be a one-off event. At UFC 244 in 2019, the inaugural night of the BMF title, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wrapped the belt around Jorge Masvidal, who defeated Nate Diaz. Then, it was a then retired Masvidal, who gave the belt to Justin Gaethje when he knocked out Poirier at UFC 291 on July 2023. In the most recent BMF title bout, which went down April 2024 at UFC 300, UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman, who had just recovered from saving his parents from a house fire, wrapped the belt around Holloway, who knocked out Gaethje in one of the greatest knockouts in MMA history. This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dustin Poirier wants Lil Wayne to wrap BMF belt around UFC 318 winner
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Alan Jouban wonders how Max Holloway's chin will hold up vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 318
Alan Jouban thinks Max Holloway coming off his first knockout loss will play a factor in his trilogy bout vs. Dustin Poirier. Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) defends his BMF title against Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in the UFC 318 main event on July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) in what will be Poirier's final fight. Advertisement Despite losing their first two fights, Holloway is a very slight favorite over Poirier. "This is the biggest opportunity Max Holloway will ever have to beat Dustin not only because it's the last fight, but because this is the oldest Dustin Poirier, obviously, that he's ever fought," Jouban told MMA Junkie. "Dustin Poirier is now one step out of the door, one foot out the door, and is older in age. Could he have lost a bit of a step in his game and explosiveness and all those things? Yes. That's a real possibility. That's why the oddsmakers have Dustin as a small underdog right now." Poirier came close to knocking Holloway down in their rematch for the interim lightweight title at UFC 236, but ultimately won a unanimous decision in an all-out war. In his most recent outing, Holloway was knocked out for the first time in his career by Ilia Topuria at UFC 308. "Max Holloway is still somewhat in the prime time of his career," Jouban said. "Dustin Poirier has passed that. But what they're not taking into account that much is Max Holloway is a guy that was never knocked down in his career, and he just got knocked out very badly. Once that happens, I can tell you from experience, once you've been KO'd and TKO'd, your chin is never quite the same. How well does Max absorb those shots in this matchup? He's always been able to absorb them and wear damage really well. He doesn't really get buzzed or rocked, and that's why he has those dogfights in there. Advertisement "How well does Max Holloway absorb those shots after not only being knocked down, but knocked out? How well does Poirier absorb these shots at this point? I still lean toward him more so than the younger Max because once that light goes out in your brain, the off switch happens a lot easier. I think Dustin has the opportunity where maybe he hits Max with a couple shots. I don't think he puts him out, I think it goes to decision, but maybe we see Max a little bit wobbled or buzzed where we haven't seen before in other fights." This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 318: Alan Jouban questions Max Holloway's chin vs. Dustin Poirier
