Dustin Poirier’s final UFC fight will take place against an opponent that he already has a lot of history with.
Despite having faced each other twice in the past, the trilogy fight between Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway at UFC 318 takes place with both men being in very different positions.
For Poirier, fight week has been emotional as he prepares to make the walk for the very last time in front of his home fans in Louisiana.
This may be just another fight for Holloway but he has some big questions to answer after being stopped by Ilia Topuria last time out.
If there is one consistent theme through their various meetings, it’s the mutual respect that they have for one another which was captured in a brief moment back in 2016.
Max Holloway congratulated Dustin Poirier on the upcoming birth of his daughter after both men fought at UFC 199
By the time that Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway both fought at UFC 199, they had already shared the Octagon with each other once.
‘The Diamond’ submitted Holloway on the Hawaiian’s UFC debut in 2012 before they went their separate ways until UFC 236 in 2019.
June 4 of 2016 is a great example of the alternating paths that their careers went down as Poirier looked to redefine his career after moving to lightweight while ‘Blessed’ was on the cusp of establishing himself as a top featherweight.
They both secured big wins at UFC 199 with Poirier stopping Bobby [now King] Green in the first round before Holloway defeated Ricardo Lamas, ending the bout with his iconic point to the floor.
At the post-fight press conference, the Louisiana native was sitting next to his former opponent as he announced that he’d be taking a little bit of time off before returning.
“We’ll see. In two months, my wife’s giving birth to our first child and I’m damn sure I’m not going to be in a training camp for that, so I’m going to sit back and enjoy this win and go home, become a father.”
Holloway had a smile on his face as Poirier announced the news, before turning to Poirier and exchanging a fist bump and some comments once he had put the mic down.
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Dustin Poirier said his daughter has been asking him to retire ahead of UFC 318
Nine years after welcoming his first child, Dustin Poirier is still competing, but that will change on July 19.
While ‘The Diamond’ has often taken his family with him when he needs to do his training camps at American Top Team, the situation is still less than ideal.
Poirier recently revealed during an appearance on The Danza Project that his daughter has been asking for him to retire and that she doesn’t think much of what he does for a living.
“She hates me fighting. She’s been asking me to retire… It’s normal to her so she doesn’t think it’s cool, even though it’s getting popular and people at her school are talking about it and talking about her dad. She doesn’t think it’s cool because she doesn’t know anything different.”
As a proud family man, whose wife is set to have their first son later this year, spending more time with his loved ones will be a huge positive for Poirier after he hangs up the gloves in New Orleans.