There was a poignancy to Max Holloway defeating Dustin Poirier in what was the Louisiana native’s “last dance” at UFC 318.
For one, it’s just kind of how things go in this sport most of the time: the younger fighter gets the better of their older, exiting foe, often times assuming the role their opponent was ready to give up. Holloway’s win doesn’t feel so much like him moving into Poirier’s vacated “all-action superhero” position, but more like an evolutionary successor to “The Diamond” — equally popular, but brandishing a more diverse array of skills, while also having made it to the top of the mountain, and carrying the potential to do so again in the not too distant future; more on that shortly.
But the real reason the result of this past weekend’s pay-per-view main event feels fitting is because Poirier’s career was defined by his losses and the fact that he constantly, without fail, continued to pick himself up and trudge back into the fray. There will be a lot of “best to never win an undisputed title” conversations this week and Poirier is surely near or at the top of that list, but viewing him only through that prism misses the point and reduces a legendary figure to only his most crushing moments.
There is a line in the movie Serendipity where Jeremy Piven’s character, who writes obituaries, says to his best friend, played by John Cusack, “You know, the Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’” It’s always resonated with me because it highlights that things, possessions, records, et al shouldn’t be how we define ourselves; instead, we should be focused on living with passion.
No one has shown more passion for this sport than Dustin Poirier, and now that he’s laid his mixed martial arts career to rest, we should remember him for that unwavering passion, and the magnificent career it produced.
Thank you, Dustin. You will be missed.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MAX HOLLOWAY?
It feels like Holloway is 75 per cent of the way back to where he was coming out of his UFC 300 win over Justin Gaethje after earning a unanimous decision win over Poirier on Saturday.
While the performance wasn’t punctuated by one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history and the whole event was a celebration of “The Diamond” right to the very end (as it should have been), the version of Holloway we saw at Smoothie King Center was the same as the one we saw at T-Mobile Arena last April; he just had a more durable foe standing in front of him.
“Blessed” is unquestionably better at lightweight now. He’s filled out his body, gained extra thump on his strikes while maintaining the same high-output, constant-pressure approach that made him a champion and perennial contender at featherweight. He outworked Poirier throughout and, while he couldn’t get the retiring veteran out of there, Holloway hurt him on multiple occasions and showed as he did when he flatlined Gaethje last spring that he’s very much deserving of a championship opportunity in the 155-pound ranks.
Following his win at UFC 300, I thought he should have stuck around and fought Islam Makhachev for the title, even if it meant waiting a while, because getting back down to the featherweight limit after transforming his body to compete at lightweight was going to be daunting. He opted to go back down, lost, and has now reset to that same position, only this time, I think the UFC would be wise to hold off on having Holloway fight for the title, for a couple different reasons.
First and foremost, the tension between new champ Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett is real and palpable, and it’s the kind of high-profile grudge match that you make whenever you have the opportunity. And before anyone starts to moan about Paddy getting a title shot off beating Michael Chandler and how deserving… stop; deserve has nothing to do with this, and there isn’t a bigger global fight within the lighter weight classes (and maybe the entire promotion) at the moment than Topuria vs. Pimblett, so you just have to book that fight.
Secondly, Holloway is less than a year removed from losing to Topuria, and there is no real need to run it back this quickly. Yes, it was down a division, but did anything about the way “El Matador” dispatched Holloway in their first meeting or Charles Oliveira a few weeks back lead you to believe he’s incapable of replicating that performance?
Not saying it’s definitely going to happen, but it could, and there is no need to risk that outcome — which then burns Holloway as a title challenger long as Topuria has the belt — when there are other options to consider.
So, what do you do with Holloway? I think there are two options.
Option 1: Arman Tsarukyan
The No. 1 contender entering the year missed his chance to fight for the title in January, suffering an 11th hour injury that forced him out of his main event pairing with Makhachev, which in turn put him in the UFC’s doghouse. But he weighed in as the official backup fighter for the Topuria-Oliveira clash and is now in a position where he needs another fight and another win to fully revive his standing as an elite contender in the 155-pound weight class.
Stylistically, it’s a terrific matchup, as Holloway would be forced to contend with Tsarukyan’s wrestling and grappling, while the 28-year-old Armenian would need to deal with the Hawaiian’s signature blend of diversity, pressure, and pace. The winner moves to the head of the line and awaits the winner of a hypothetical Topuria-Pimblett showdown.
Just putting that option down on paper gave me a shiver down my spine thinking about the violent potential.
“The Hangman” is coming off a stellar effort against Mateusz Gamrot last August and has won three straight overall. He’s one of the few people in the division that carry that BMF ethos and a matchup between the two would be guaranteed chaos from start to finish. While Hooker currently sits at No. 7 in the rankings, they’re a little wonky at the moment as Makhachev is stationed at No. 1, but could be removed, and Poirier will be pulled from his place in the hierarchy with the next update.
So Hooker could climb as high as No. 5, and since I doubt Gaethje is in a hurry to run it back with Holloway and Oliveira just fought, the New Zealander becomes the next highest ranked option for the Hawaiian to face.
ESK suggests: As much as I would love to see Holloway and Hooker throw down, pitting Tsarukyan and Holloway together in a battle to determine the next title challenger feels too obvious to pass up at this point. Schedule it for later in the year, maybe even on the same card as the next lightweight title bout, and give them five rounds to do it; if that means putting the BMF title on the line, so be it.
Both would then be at the ready in case someone fell out of the championship pairing, and the winner’s got next.
THOUGHTS ON EMERGING STANDOUTS AT UFC 318
The prelims featured a number of relatively young talents scoring important wins, and rather than go through and pick fights for all of them, this feels like the much more appropriate way to address them and what should come next for each of them.
Carli Judice, Islam Dulatov, and Ateba Gautier all earned outstanding finishes in the bayou this past weekend, with Judice and Gautier making it consecutive stoppage wins this year inside the Octagon and Dulatov achieving the feat in his promotional debut. All three show serious promise, with Judice flashing crispy striking, Dulatov possessing a massive frame and strong foundation, and Gautier displaying gnarly power and surprising poise for someone so young (23) and relatively new to the game.
None of them should be rushed.
As much as the temptation is to hustle them up the ladder in their respective divisions, those weight classes have plenty of talent towards the top end already, and each of them would benefit more from being brought along as slowly as possible at this point. A slight step up in competition is clearly warranted, just don’t get too crazy with things.
Pair Judice with Julianna Miller. Get Dulatov in there with someone like Themba Gorimbo. Have Gautier face Zach Reese or someone similar. No major veteran tests. No massive leaps forward in the division. Patience is key here.
And then there is Vinicius Oliveira, who closed out the prelims by earning a unanimous decision win over Kyler Phillips to move to 4-0 in the UFC over the last 19 months. He’s already broken into the rankings and should inch forward a little more after beating Phillips, so while patience is the key with his three fellow Dana White’s Contender Series grads, “Lok Dog” has kind of forced the UFC’s hand and should get a date with someone sporting a single digit next to their name.
Marlon “Chito” Vera was the first name that came to mind, and if you wanted to position it as a five-round main event later in the year, I certainly wouldn’t be mad.
