Holloway, the former featherweight champion, won the “BMF” title in April and successfully defended it against Poirier, the Louisiana native who was retiring from mixed martial arts.
After a first-round knockdown by Holloway, Poirier showed resilience and mentioned that Holloway’s striking was as sharp as ever, despite losing on the judges’ cards 113-99 in significant head strikes.
Poirier expressed his admiration for Holloway’s skills, calling him the “BMF” champion and one of the good guys.
Earlier matches at UFC 318 included a win for Paulo Costa over Roman Kopylov, a decision win for Daniel Rodriguez over Kevin Holland, and Patricio Pitbull’s first UFC victory against Dan Ige.
Michael Johnson upset Daniel Zellhuber in the opening pay-per-view match, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 29-28 after a second-round knockdown.
