Dustin Poirier reacts to retirement fight against Max Holloway at UFC 318: ‘I was asking for Gaethje or Topuria’

Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight will come against Max Holloway in a trilogy set for the “BMF” title at UFC 318 on July 19 from New Orleans, La., but it wasn’t “Diamond’s” first choice for his Octagon swan song.

Ever since Poirier lost his most recent bid for UFC gold to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 back in June 2024 fight fans have been wondering when the UFC veteran will make his final walk to the cage. A ton of names have been rumored throughout the months, but the UFC ultimately settled on Holloway, who is coming off his first career knockout loss at the hands of former UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

While a third fight between Poirier and “Blessed” for the “BMF” title belt is a tremendous matchup for fight fans it’s not something “Diamond” was targeting. Instead, Poirier was hoping for a third fight against UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje or a shot at the aforementioned Topuria, who vacated his UFC featherweight title earlier this year in order to move up to 155 pounds.

“I was asking Hunter [Campbell] for Gaethje, because we’re 1-1 I wanted to close out that trilogy,” Poirier told MMA Junkie. “For some reason they really wanted this fight. That’s cool because I respect [Max] for my last fight…

“When [Ilia] said he was going to 155, I texted the UFC and said ‘hey, let me know what’s going on with this guy’. But they never entertained it, they told me it’s not happening and they wanted Max.”

Poirier, 36, already has two wins over Holloway. The first came all the way back at UFC 143 in 2012 when “Diamond” became the only fighter to ever submit Holloway. Their rematch occurred at UFC 236 in 2019 for the interim UFC lightweight championship. Holloway was riding a 13-fight win streak in the featherweight division at the time, but eventually tasted defeated after five hard rounds opposite Poirier.

What do you think, fight fans? Was Poirier vs. Holloway 3 the right move? Or did UFC matchmakers drop the ball by not booking Poirier against Gaethje or Topuria?

Sound off!