The incredible career of Dustin Poirier will come to an end following the main event of UFC 318.
After being beaten by Islam Makhachev last year, Poirier contemplated retirement having come up short when challenging for the lightweight title.
‘The Diamond’ eventually decided that he wanted to go out with at least one more big night, with the UFC helping to put together a dream final chapter for Poirier.
Going out on a win in front of his home fans in Louisiana would be a storybook ending but Max Holloway will have other plans as he looks to bounce back from a defeat last time out.
While the two men prepare to compete for the BMF belt, the man that recently vacated his 155-pound title has shared his thoughts on the matchup.
Islam Makhachev backs Dustin Poirier to win his retirement fight after becoming friends with his former opponent
Speaking with okko.mma, Islam Makhachev recently weighed in with his thoughts on the upcoming main event of UFC 318.
There wasn’t any bad blood between him and Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 outside of the normal tension that comes with a big UFC title fight.
In fact, Makhachev revealed in the interview that he is rooting for ‘The Diamond’ having struck up an unlikely friendship with his former foe.
Several social media posts have quoted slightly different translations from his comments, though the overall statement is largely the same.
“Poirier is my dude. I support him 100%,” Makhachev is quoted as saying by Red Corner MMA. “We send each other texts. If this is his last fight, I think he will be at his peak, he will give his absolute best.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising to hear that the former lightweight champion believes that Poirier will come out on top in his final fight.
He believes that his former challenger needs to stick to the same approach that he used in his previous win over Max Holloway to prevent ‘Blessed’ from implementing his constant pace and output.
“He already outboxed him before. Dustin needs to stick to his gameplan, push forward, don’t let Holloway work his range. He is one of the best at it. I think it’s going to be Poirier via decision.
“Both of them are hard to finish. Both of them can take a punch. Neither of them have a very powerful knockout punch, but they hit accurately. Both work more in the stand-up. I think it will be technical. Who will outplay who.”
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Chael Sonnen also picked Dustin Poirier after consistently backing Max Holloway in the past
UFC legend Chael Sonnen also predicted Dustin Poirier to get his hand raised based on his previous fights with Max Holloway.
Sonnen has backed Holloway in the past in some of his toughest matchups but in a recent interview, he claimed that he has no reason to believe that this outcome will be any different from the first two meetings in their trilogy.
“Dustin Poirier will, for the third time, beat Max Holloway,” Sonnen said. “That is my official prediction.
“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.”
Holloway has stated ahead of UFC 318 that one of his main motivations for this fight is avoiding going 0-3 in two trilogies during his career.