Max Holloway has been on the right side of UFC history many times throughout his career. He holds a championship pedigree along with numerous records and accolades.
At UFC 318, however, BMF champ Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) is fighting to avoid being a dubious note in the UFC record book as he hopes to finally defeat Dustin Poirier (30-9 MMA, 22-8 UFC) in the July 19 headliner at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
After going winless in three featherweight title encounters with Alexander Volkanovski, Holloway will try to avoid suffering a third defeat to Poirier, who submitted him in February 2012 then won a thrilling unanimous decision in an April 2019 rematch.
“I’m 0-3 in one trilogy. I’m not trying to be 0-3 in two trilogies. That’s the main thing going through my mind,” Holloway told MMA Junkie in an interview facilitated by Stake.com. “The BMF title is cool and everything, and making history is great, but the main history I ain’t trying to make is be a man who fought two different trilogies and went 0-3. I’m focused on going out there and getting my hand raised. Shout out to DP, ‘The Diamond.’ He’s a beast, he’s an animal, he’s a legend. I know this is his last dance, but I’ve got to play the spoiler here. I need this one.”
Holloway, 33, said he’s confident about his ability to defeat Poirier this time around and send him into retirement on a loss. Holloway still has championship ambitions left in his career, and he knows a winning result is required.
“You’re only as good as your last fight,” Holloway said, “and my last fight wasn’t so good.”
After being knocked out for the first time in his career by Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 in October, Holloway left the 145-pound division behind and said he’s a lightweight for good moving forward. He wants to get off on the right foot, and that means getting his hand raised at UFC 318.
“That first fight, me and Dustin are not even recognizable,” Holloway said. “Then the second fight is what it is. We went out there and did our thing. I thought I did enough. I obviously didn’t. Three people sitting ringside had it as a decision, and it went the other way. There’s nothing to cry about spilled milk. We’ve just got to worry about the next one. I’m straight focused here, and I can’t wait.
“The only right way to get a trilogy done now with me and him is for one he got the sub, second one he got a decision. So let’s figure out this trilogy and hopefully get a KO in this one, with me being on the winning side. That would be cool.”
Although UFC 318 is going to be a celebration and sendoff for Poirier after a legendary career, Holloway is not showing up to be a bystander or play a part in a fairytale ending. He is going into Poirier’s home state of Louisiana with intentions of ruining the retirement party, but that mentality is purely out of his desire to win.
“If I’ve got to be the bad guy – I want to be the bad guy because it is his last dance, and I want to get his hand raised,” Holloway said. “So be it. Business is business. I’ll be the bad guy for maybe the week, for 25 minutes, and after that it’s all said and done. I’m not one of these guys who holds grudges. Whenever we get in that octagon, we solve it. Dustin doesn’t cross the line with a lot of talking, and a lot of his fans don’t cross that line either. At the end of the day, it’s super easy being the bad guy against someone like Dustin.”
