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Dustin Poirier recently expressed sincere appreciation to the UFC for honoring the vision he had for his retirement fight. 'The Diamond' has long stated that 2025 would mark his final walk to the octagon, with hopes of staging his retirement bout in his hometown of Louisiana and doing so against a fighter widely considered a "legend" of the sport.
On Friday, the UFC officially fulfilled Poirier's wish by announcing that his final fight will be against reigning BMF champion Max Holloway. The highly anticipated trilogy bout is set to headline UFC 318 on July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Poirier voiced his gratitude to the UFC for going above and beyond to make every aspect of his farewell bout a reality:
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"This is the dream. This is the plan. I'm the one that reached out to the UFC and said I would love to retire at home. And to my surprise, they obliged and said, 'OK, we'll do everything we can to make it happen.' It's amazing when a company works with you like that and has respect for you enough to try to put things in motion because so many things in their schedule is booked up for like the whole year previously."
He added:
"People don't understand how much goes on behind the scenes. These dates and locations are pre-planned for a long time. For them to scrap something and bring the cage to Louisiana and set it up for me to retire at home. Dude. It's a dream come true."
Check out Dustin Poirier's comments below (4:48):
Who holds the lead in the Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier trilogy?
Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway first met inside the octagon at UFC 143 in February 2012, where 'The Diamond' handed the future featherweight champion a first-round submission loss in his promotional debut.
The pair crossed paths again seven years later at UFC 236 in April 2019, with the interim lightweight title up for grabs. Poirier once again got the better of 'Blessed', earning a hard-fought unanimous decision victory in a memorable clash.
'The Diamond' was last seen in action at UFC 302 in June 2024, where he succumbed to a fifth-round submission defeat against reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in his third attempt at capturing the undisputed title.
Meanwhile, Holloway is entering the bout after suffering a third-round knockout loss to former 145-pound champion Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 in October. Before that setback, he captured the BMF title with a spectacular finish over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April 2024.
