Fight Facts: UFC 318 ‘Holloway vs. Poirier 3’

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 8,272
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 740

The Ultimate Fighting Championship did the unexpected and demonstrated exactly how much it appreciated a fighting legend. The night was all about the retiring Dustin Poirier, with fans jam-packed in the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans to watch his final battle. He and Max Holloway battled it out to produce plenty of history, with new storylines flowing like water at night’s end. UFC 318 featured a remarkable achievement in MMA striking, a couple of upsets for the old guard and a few gladiators maintaining their perfect stoppage rates.

Nose Dive: After the first six prelims ended by stoppage, the remaining eight bouts on UFC 318 all heard the final bell. This makes this event the first since UFC Fight Night 198 in 2021 where at least eight straight matches went the distance.

Life-Changing Currency: Last week, Fatima Kline wrecked Melissa Martinez with a head kick in the card opener and earned a “Performance of the Night” check. Carli Judice punished Nicolle Caliari to get a POTN as well, making these two cards the first back-to-back UFC shows where curtain-jerkers earned $50K bonuses since Christian Rodriguez and Tamires Vidal did so at UFC Fight Nights 213 and 214 in 2022.

Blessing on the Leaderboard: Exacting some revenge on Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway won the trilogy bout on the scorecards. His victory was his 23rd in the Octagon, tying him with Andrei Arlovski, Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira for the second-most all-time—Jim Miller’s 27 remain the most.

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Trilogy Combo Breaker: By winning his third match against Poirier, Holloway became the first fighter in company history to prevail after losing to the same opponent twice before.

Built Different: Racking up 198 significant strikes on Poirier across five rounds, “Blessed” became the first in organizational history to surpass the 3,500 sig-strike threshold. His 3,655 are leagues ahead of the next closest fighter, Sean Strickland (2,197).

See You in Nine Months: Former interim lightweight champ Poirier hung up his gloves after the loss to Holloway. “The Diamond” departs the sport with 14 wins with the promotion, and he remains tied with Drew Dober for the most knockouts in UFC 155-pound history (nine). The Louisiana native celebrates victories throughout his career over names including Conor McGregor, Holloway, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and many others.

No More Wine: Paulo Costa started his career by amassing a record of 13-0 with 12 finishes accounting for his first 12 outings. Since knocking out Uriah Hall in 2018, Costa’s only method of victory has been on the scorecards, including his decision win over Roman Kopylov.

Odd Odds: Kevin Holland (-625) and Daniel Zellhuber (-850) closed as massive favorites and lost decisions at UFC 318 to Daniel Rodriguez and Michael Johnson, respectively. This event is one of six in company history where two favored fighters of -500 or above tasted defeat—there has never been a card where three such competitors lost.

Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: En route to the unanimous decision in his favor, 39-year-old Johnson dropped Zellhuber in the second stanza. While “The Menace” is currently riding the first three-fight win streak since 2015, his 13 knockdowns scored at lightweight are tied for the most in divisional history with Melvin Guillard.

Hello Cut List: Taking the split call against Franciso Prado, Nikolay Veretennikov earned his first win in the Octagon. The pattern of Prado’s career remains the same: All of his victories are by stoppage, with every defeat via decision.

African Knockout: Wrecking Robert Valentin in 70 seconds, Ateba Abega Gautier improved his win streak to seven straight. The Cameroonian knockout artist has seen his last seven triumphs end via strikes, with only his pro debut win needing the full length.

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Model Behavior: Retaining his 100% stoppage rate, Islam Dulatov introduced himself to the masses by putting Adam Fugitt away in a little over four minutes. The German born in Chechnya posts first-round stoppages in 11 of his 12 pro wins.

Hulk Thunderclap: Like Dulatov, Brunno Ferreira has still performed finishes in every one of his career wins. The Brazilian known as “The Hulk” took care of previously undefeated Jackson McVey courtesy of an armbar in the opening frame.


Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 318, Poirier (40 fights), Zellhuber (17 fights), Kyler Phillips (15 fights) and Caliari (11 fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts; Holland had never been knocked down in the UFC (26 fights) and Lukasz Brzeski had never been submitted (17 fights).

He Paid the Cost: Using a mashup of his standard tune of James Brown’s “The Boss” along with Lil Wayne’s “Can’t Be Broken,” Poirier ended up coming up short in his retirement match. He still sees a .643 win percentage when walking out to “The Boss,” a track he picked for his last 14 outings.