Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier’s first two fights may not have been the same as the first two, but their fifth-round fight ended up being their most thrilling final 15 seconds.
At UFC 318 in New Orleans on Saturday night, lightweight Holloway won by unanimous decision on the three judges’ cards, 48-47, 49-46, 49-46.
In his final mixed martial arts fight against Poirier, Louisiana native Poirier had lost the first two fights before winning.
Holloway, 33, called himself “the baddest man alive, bro.” “Din Poirier, give it up.”
Holloway almost finished Poirier (30-10), but his 36-year-old opponent persisted after a first-round knockdown from the Hawaiian.
By the fourth round, Poirier was exhausted, but he acknowledged after the fight that he was impressed by Holloway’s consistency and strength. In significant head strikes, Holloway outlanded Poirier 113-99, according to the broadcast’s final stats.
Poirier described Holloway as “I thought he was going to be in here cracking a little harder, which he was.” When he is in front of you, this guy is difficult to deal with. He looks good. He is skilled. He moves quickly. He is the champion of BMF. Max, man, is everything I have to respect. One of the good guys is him.
Holloway successfully defends the “BMF” title in his first fight since winning it at UFC 300 in April. Since it is not associated with a division and has only been used sparingly since November 2019, there is no telling what direction the belt will go.
Paulo Costa of Brazil resurrected the winning column in earlier matches by winning 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28. Kopylov (14-4) has won his last two fights while Costa (15-4) is still in the middleweight title race.
Despite a late rally from Holland, which almost ended him in the third round with strikes, welterweight Daniel Rodriguez outshined Kevin Holland in the following two fights. The cards read 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, as Holland (28-14) was another betting favourite at the expense of Rodriguez (20-5).
With identical 29-28 scores, Patricio Pitbull won his first UFC fight to claim the title of lightweight champion over featherweight Dan Ige. Ige, who had lost two of his previous three fights, felt that Pitbull’s wrestling was too much for him. In a previous fight, Ige (19-10) won on the same card at UFC 314, Pittillo (32-7) last fought in April.
Source: Aljazeera
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