The Bigger Picture | UFC 318: Holloway vs Poirier 3

Everyone was rooting for him. Everyone wanted to see him get another shot, and hoped he would finally accomplish the one feat that had eluded him through his otherwise stellar career. We all knew his signature moves — the hair wipe, hiking up the shorts, the right index finger point, spitting off to the left once the fight progressed into the deeper stages — and smile whenever he did one of them.

Universally beloved figures do not exist anymore and even those that garner massive followings at one point or another usually lose them en masse somewhere down the line. But Poirier is universally beloved and nothing was ever going to change that, because he never changed.

At his core — and he said as much Saturday night in his farewell address — he’s still the same kid from Lafayette chasing a dream, and that was always clear as climbed the ranks, his popularity rose, and he became one of the biggest and most respected fighters in the sport. We watched him grow up to be a tremendous fighter, but also an incredible man — a husband, a father, a philanthropist — and each setback only made us love him more, honestly.

I have no problem admitting I cried multiple times on Saturday night watching the different video packages the UFC crew put together on Poirier, in part because they were extremely well done and designed to tug on the old heart strings, but also because I’ve been covering Poirier’s UFC career from the very beginning and it has been an absolute honor to do so.

Going into the weekend, you knew that if Holloway beat Poirier in the main event and spoiled the Louisiana native’s potential Hollywood ending, he was going to graciously step aside in the post-fight moments and give the spotlight to his rival.

You knew it because Holloway is a real one — someone that has always carried himself with class and respect, who operates with a code, and who understands these moments, having been a part of many big ones over the years.

So it wasn’t surprising when “Blessed” offered a quick message about challengers coming for his BMF title and his history with new lightweight champion Ilia Topuria and then dipped, giving the stage to Poirier. What made it more awesome is when he burst back into the interview, unhappy with the amount of love being shown to Poirier by the crowd, and demanded they make even more noise for the departing legend.

Just like the man he beat, Holloway embodies everything great about this sport and its athletes, and he showed that again on Saturday night.

Ateba Gautier and Islam Dulatov each earned nasty first-round stoppage wins on Saturday’s UFC 318 prelim, the former knocking out Robert Valentin and the latter doing the same to Adam Fugitt. It was the second win of the year for Gautier and the first for Dulatov, as well as two more victories for Dana White’s Contender Series Class of ’24.

In addition to Gautier and Dulatov, both of whom looked dangerous and loaded with upside on the weekend, last year’s class also includes: Mansur Abdul-Malik. Jose Delgado, Lone’er Kavanagh, Malcolm Wellmaker, Marco Tulio, Jacobe Smith, Elijah Smith, Alexia Thainara, Mario Pinto, Tallison Teixeira, Navajo Stirling, Quillan Salkilld, Seok-Hyun Ko, and Kevin Vallejos.

Those athletes are a combined 23-1 inside the Octagon, with Teixeira’s loss coming in a main event assignment against divisional staple Derrick Lewis.

Yes, that’s a hand-selected group of athletes, but the record of last year’s class is 33-16 so far, with two fighters yet to compete. So for the 38 active graduates to have already posted 33 wins is pretty dang impressive, no matter how you slice it, and a couple of those athletes have already offered glimpses of being special.

I said it coming into this year: the Season 8 group has a chance to be the best in the show’s history, and so far, they’re trending in that direction.

Quick Hitters

Paulo Costa is dangerous when he’s focused and still a potential threat in the middleweight division. “Borrachina” looked solid from start to finish against Roman Kopylov to cement his place in the rankings.

Daniel Rodriguez earned the biggest win of his career, besting Kevin Holland in an entertaining back-and-forth scrap. The Los Angeles native is one of those cats that has never gotten the credit he deserves for the career he’s put together in the UFC, but this result should help change that fact. 

Patricio Pitbull notched his first UFC victory and showed he still has something left in the tank by getting the better of things against the always game Dan Ige. His two fights this year have set a baseline and ceiling for where he fits in the division at the moment, so it will be interesting to see who he gets next.

Michael Johnson putting together a winning streak late in his career has been fun to watch. He’s still got quick hands and he’s minimizing his mistakes now, which makes him a tricky assignment for anyone looking to climb the lightweight ladder at his expense.

The UFC production team and everyone involved with UFC 318 did an incredible job making the night feel like a celebration of Poirier, and the video packages assembled for the main event and Poirier’s sendoff were outstanding. Like I said, they had me in tears multiple times during the broadcast, and I know I was far from the only one.

Shouts to everyone involved!

And with that, I’m out.

See you again after UFC 319.