Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier’s final fight will take place in his home state.
The former UFC Lightweight Interim champion will take on Max Holloway for the ceremonial BMF championship on July 19th in New Orleans. Holloway vs. Poirier 3 headlines the UFC 318 fight card that will take place inside the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on July 19th.
Poirier announced the trilogy fight on Friday while appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN. Poirier is in Green Bay for the NFL Draft where he will announce one of the New Orleans Saints draft picks on Friday.
Holloway suffered his first professional defeat at Poirier’s hands when the two met in the octagon at UFC 143 in 2012. In 2019, UFC featherweight champion Holloway moved up to take on Poirier for the interim lightweight title at UFC 236, which the Lafayette native won.
Both fighters are coming off defeats in the octagon.
Poirier (30-9, 1 NC) lost to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 in June of 2024. Holloway (26-8) lost to former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 last October.
In seven of his previous nine fights, the bouts have ended by either knockout or submission, with Poirier winning five.
This will be the second time that Poirier will fight for the BMF championship. He fought Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 in 2023. Holloway knocked out Gaethje to win the BMF title at UFC 200 last year.