Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier is returning to his home state for a trilogy fight against UFC BMF champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 318 on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Poirier (30-9-0), a Lafayette, Louisiana, native, will step into the Octagon for the final time to challenge Holloway (26-8-0) for his BMF title. Paulo Costa (14-4-0) will face Roman Kopylov (14-3-0) in a clash of middleweights in the co-main event.
The main card will be on ESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+ at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN2, ESPN+ and Disney+ at 6 p.m.
Poirier is 2-0 in his storied career against Holloway. The 36-year-old defeated Holloway via submission in their first meeting in February 2012. Poirier got the better of the 33-year-old Hawaii native again in April 2019 in a unanimous decision for the interim lightweight crown.
UFC’s BMF king looks to finally turn the tables against Poirier in the former champ’s final bout before retirement.
What are the top storylines at UFC 318? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of UFC 318 essentials:
UFC 318 fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
BMF championship: Max Holloway (c) vs. Dustin Poirier
Middleweight: Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov
Welterweight: Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez
Featherweight: Dan Ige vs. Patricio Pitbull
Lightweight: Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber
ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+, 8 p.m. ET
Bantamweight: Kyler Phillips vs. Vinicius Oliveira
Middleweight: Marvin Vettori vs. Brendan Allen
Welterweight: Francisco Prado vs. Nikolay Veretennikov
Middleweight: Ateba Gautier vs. Robert Valentin
ESPN2/ESPN+/Disney+, 6 p.m. ET
Welterweight: Adam Fugitt vs. Islam Dulatov
Light heavyweight: Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio
Heavyweight: Ryan Spann vs. Lukasz Brzeski
Middleweight: Brunno Ferreira vs. Jackson McVey
Women’s flyweight: Carli Judice vs. Nicolle Caliari
(c) = defending champion
How to watch the fights
Watch the pay-per-view and all other fights on ESPN+ and Disney+.
Fans can purchase the fight in advance of the event. During the event, FightCenter will offer live updates for every UFC card.
