UFC 318 headliner Dustin Poirier has done what Ilia Topuria could not — make this man predict against Max Holloway.
Poirier will soon make the walk to the Octagon for the final time, as the fan-favorite lightweight hangs up the gloves after 18 years as an active MMA fighter.
His farewell comes close to home in New Orleans, where Poirier will retire at UFC 318 in a main event BMF title fight against familiar foe Max Holloway.
The Louisianan has already gotten the better of ‘Blessed’ on two occasions. And Poirier’s winning record has caused one UFC legend to break his streak of pro-Holloway predictions
Chael Sonnen picks Dustin Poirier to retire on top at UFC 318
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, former two-division UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen provided his official prediction for Saturday’s main event.
‘The Bad Guy’ has been a staunch supporter of Holloway’s for years, even correctly backing him to beat Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 before picking him to be the first to defeat Ilia Topuria in their title fight last October.
This time around, however, Sonnen feels differently.
“Dustin Poirier will, for the third time, beat Max Holloway,” Sonnen said. “That is my official prediction.
“I can’t praise Max enough. I think Max is just an all-time great. … I’ve never picked against Max, ever. I had Max over Ilia! I had Max over Gaethje! … I am picking against Max. I wasn’t against Max the second time he fought Dustin.
“It is not a commentary at all on Max’s skills. It is the fact that they’ve fought not once, but twice,” Sonnen continued. “There is no point in (the first two fights) where you can identify something…there was nothing to lead a trained eye to believe if you do this again, you’re going to have a different outcome.
“They are even money, guys…so you guys are seeing something that I’m not. … Everything here that we’ve laid out all favors Dustin.”
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Max Holloway could be 0-3 in yet another UFC trilogy
Should Sonnen’s prediction come true on fight night, Holloway will have once again fallen on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline in a UFC trilogy.
The Hawaiian’s first three-fight series came against Alexander Volkanovski. After two close and competitive fights went the way of the Australian, with the rematch being particularly controversial, there was little doubt about the third.
Volkanovski outclassed Holloway at UFC 276 in 2022, beating ‘Blessed’ up across 25 minutes en route to a lopsided decision in Las Vegas.
Having been finished by Poirier first time around and then outpointed in a memorable but not exactly difficult to score fight, the pressure is on Holloway to pull one back on his latest three-time UFC rival.