Max Holloway leaned into his position of spoiler to Dustin Poirier's retirement fight, and it paid off at UFC 318 with a successful defense of his BMF title. After losing the first pair of meetings in February 2012 and April 2019,

Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier in a unanimous decision to retain the UFC BMF Championship in UFC 318 at the Smoothie King Center. The win for Holloway is the first in three fights against Poirier, who beat him in 2012 and 2019.

Alexander Volkanovski says Max Holloway deserves Ilia Topuria rematch after ‘BMF’ title win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 318.

Alexander Volkanovski was interested in how Max Holloway would bounce back from his first KO loss, and came away very impressed.

While Max Holloway may have used the opportunity to call for a BMF ranking, the title fight that he was pitched with Dan Hooker would make a lot of sense. Holloway has made it clear that he wants Ilia Topuria next but he’s also stated that it’s up to the UFC to decide what path they want to take.