UFC 318 Holloway vs Poirier Recap

Published: Saturday, July 26, 2025

by Oren Mouton

Fight fans were once again seated and locked in for UFC 318 in the Big Easy – New Orleans, Louisiana – for the first time in 10 years, headlined by none other than Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier for his retirement match in a BMF title bout versus Max “Blessed” Holloway. 

Holloway and Poirier stood and exchanged throughout the course of five rounds, with Holloway successfully defending his BMF title via unanimous decision. The door for higher caliber fights opens for him in the lightweight division as he looks to get another win before competing for the lightweight title. 

One could not have asked for a better retirement than that as the whole night was beautiful and made for “The Diamond.” While he never held an undisputed title, diamonds will always shine brighter than gold. 

In the co-main event, Paulo “The Eraser” Costa had a resurgence against Roman Kopylov, winning via unanimous decision 30-27.  After the fight Costa called out Khamzat Chimaev after his bout amid all of the recent drama involving Costa’s wife. 

He knows he needs more wins before he can get back to the opportunity at the title, but he is more motivated than ever and will look to fight once more before the year is over.  

In the featured bout of the night, Daniel “DRod” Rodriguez got it done via unanimous decision (29-28) against Kevin “Trailblazer” Holland and finally got back into the rankings in a fiery three-round bout where both fighters were dropped with over a 100 total strikes each. 

Although Holland suffered massive damage in this fight, he still wants to break the record for the most fights in a year, with seven, which he is fully capable of doing given his high activity. Rodriguez will look to continue to rise up the rankings and possibly face an older opponent, such as Gilbert Burns. 

“Dynamite” Dan Ige took the loss to Patricio Pitbull in a three-round unanimous decision (29-28), where Pitbull decided to incorporate the grappling early, taking down Ige a total of five times throughout the fight. 

Pitbull got his first win in the UFC and also puts himself into the featherweight rankings at #11. Ige will receive an unranked opponent next, falling all the way down to #14.  

In the opening fight on the main card, Michael “The Menace” Johnson was able to show that he still got it at the age of 39 versus Daniel Zellhuber in a rare unanimous decision win for him. 

He came into this fight with a chip on his shoulder, entering as a +550 underdog, but the experience showed throughout the fight, and he will surely be rewarded by being on a PPV main card later in the year. As for Zellhuber, he will have to go back to the drawing board and work his way back up. 

In the featured preliminary bout, Vinicius “Lok Dog” Oliveira got a convincing unanimous decision win (29-28) over Kyler “The Matrix” Phillips. Oliveira will continue to be active and look for another fight before the year is over due to the lack of damage he received in this bout. 

Lok Dog is the most promising prospect in the bantamweight division, so he will continue to build his name as he has put fans on notice with this victory. Kyler Phillips will fight down, and if he loses another, he will be unranked. 

In the fight that received the fight of the night bonus, Brendan “All In” Allen got a unanimous decision (30-27) over Marvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori. This fight had a long build-up to it after Allen and Vettori’s scuffle a couple of months ago in Florida. 

In the end, Allen settled the beef in his home state of Louisiana, deciding to stand up and bang with Vettori, who notably has the best chin in the UFC. Vettori, who is now 1-4 in his last five, will undoubtedly fight down and look to get his first win since March of 2023. 

Nikolay Veretennikov won via split decision over Francisco Prado to receive his first win in the UFC, and despite the win, both fighters are still in no man's land. 

Ateba Gautier got a KO win over Robert “Robzilla” Valentin in the 1st round. Gautier fights like a monster as his speedy combinations were able to pick apart Valentin quickly, and he is fully worthy of the middleweight Francis Ngannou comparisons. Gautier is rumored to be making a quick turnaround for UFC 320 in Las Vegas versus Ozzy Diaz.  

In the early prelims, Islam “The Ripper” Dulatov KO’d Adam Fugitt within the 1st round, and Dulatov continues to make a name for himself in the welterweight division with yet another KO. He’s slowly becoming one of the most interesting prospects in the division. 

Jimmy Crute got the victory via armbar over Marcin Prachnio. As an avid UFC watcher, you love to see this for Crute as he faced many out-of-the-octagon adversaries and is able to receive his first win since 2020.  

Ryan “Superman” Spann won via guillotine choke versus Lukasz Brzeski. Spann is now adjusted to the heavyweight division, and he took no damage in this bout and will continue to build his name at heavyweight.  

Bruno “The Hulk” Ferreira won via armbar versus Jackson McVey who stepped in on short notice making his UFC debut. Ferreira continues to build his name in the middleweight division, and as for McVey, this is his 1st loss as an MMA fighter and will look to make a quick turnaround to get this loss back as fast as possible. 

For the first fight of the night, Carli “Crispy” Judice won with yet another KO victory, with the victory coming versus Nicolle Caliari and in her home state of Louisiana. Judice continues to build up her name in the women’s flyweight division.  

UFC will be back in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, July 26th, where Reinier De Ridder “RDR” looks to take Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker’s ranking to get him ever so close to fighting next for the middleweight championship of the world. 

Oren Mouton can be reached at oren.mouton@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: sports,