Dustin Poirier revealed his keys to victory after emerging on top at UFC 236 in 2019.
Poirier and Max Holloway are set to meet for a third time in the main event of UFC 318 as ‘The Diamond’ competes for the last time.
One man will close the show in New Orleans with the BMF belt wrapped around their waist, a title which both of them are more than deserving of.
Ahead of July 19, the emphasis is on Holloway to make adjustments having been beaten by his next opponent twice in the past.
Their incredible interim lightweight title fight at UFC 236 was a back and forth battle that Poirier won after successfully implementing a game plan that he went on to reveal details of.
Chael Sonnen says Dustin Poirier may have given away too much information following UFC 236
In a recent episode of ESPN MMA’s ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’, Chael Sonnen raised an interesting point regarding Dustin Poirier’s previous win over Max Holloway.
It’s no secret that ‘Blessed’ fights with an incredibly high output which can easily overwhelm opponents once he starts to dictate the pace.
Holloway still had a lot of success at UFC 236 but it was the work that Poirier did in the early rounds that stopped his opponent from running away with the fight.
Sonnen shared that after the fight, ‘The Diamond’ openly spoke about how Holloway is a rhythm fighter who you have to disrupt so that he can’t continuously go through the gears and build from one step to the next.
‘Blessed’ could therefore use this information to try and find different ways to implement his approach so that Poirier can’t prevent him from building into the matchup on July 19.
“I think that Dustin Poirier right now, in this moment, probably regrets having come on ESPN and told the world… He beat him twice, probably never saw number three. But, if we do go back to that word rhythm, if there was something that Dustin could pick up on by watching tapes of Max, that means there’s a correction that Max could make if he watches those same tapes.”
Daniel Cormier highlights Dustin Poirier’s resilience in his second fight with Max Holloway
While Max Holloway had his moments at UFC 236, Dustin Poirier was able to withstand the second-half rally from his opponent.
‘The Diamond’ started incredibly well but Holloway’s durability somehow kept him in the fight until he was able to use his constant output to turn things in his favor.
During ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’, Daniel Cormier highlighted how we saw just how far Poirier has come in this fight, as he didn’t crumble once the momentum started to go against him.
“I watched Max Holloway build his way back into this fight, I knew Dustin Poirier was a different fighter because he fought him back when things started to go south. There were times earlier in his career, with ‘The Korean Zombie‘, where it kind of snowballed on Dustin and he was never able to get back to it.”
While Holloway will obviously look to have a stronger start to the fight this time around, both men may have to bank on their resilience at points.