Louisiana native Dustin Poirier is locked for a UFC BMF title fight in his home state to conclude his career, as New Orleans will host Poirier’s battle with title-holder Max Holloway to highlight the July 19 card at the Smoothie King Center.
This will be the third battle between the lightweight combatants, the 36-year-old Poirier, who hails from Lafayette, La., taking the first two contests.
Both fighters are coming off losses in title fights, however. Poirier (30-9) submitted to Islam Makhachev last June, while the 33-year-old Holloway (26-8) lost in knockout fashion to Ilia Topuria in October.
“For Dustin Poirier to be able to finish his remarkable UFC career in New Orleans is special,” UFC executive vice president Peter Dropick said in a news release. “Thank you to the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, New Orleans & Company and Smoothie King Center for helping us make this happen.
“It’s been 10 years since we’ve held an event in New Orleans, we know the fans are ready for us to be back!”
The Octagon will also play host to ranked middleweights No 10 Marvin Vettori (19-8-1) and No. 11 Brendan Allen (24-7), who will do battle for the first time in an official capacity at UFC 318.
The two were slated to fight at UFC Vegas 90 last April, though Vettori pulled out. A few months later, the pair squared off (unofficially) in a brawl at a Florida casino.
Their ranked billing remains hotly anticipated.
The rest of the lineup includes newly announced fights between Kyler Phillips (12-3) and Vinicius Oliveira (22-3) at the bantamweight level, Jimmy Crute (12-4-2) facing Marcin Prachnio (17-8) in light heavyweight and Carli Judice (4-2) battling Nicolle Caliari (8-3) at women’s fly.
Other fights include:
-No. 7 Amanda Ribas vs. No. 10 Tabatha Ricci in strawweight
-Neil Magny vs. Gunnar Nelson in welterweight
-Adam Fuitt vs. Islam Dulatov in welterweight
-Ikram Aliskerov vs. Brunno Ferreira in middleweight
-Field Level Media
