Written by Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
Dustin Poirier showed he was still capable of hanging with a top-ranked fighter after engaging in a five-round war with Max Holloway in his retirement fight at UFC 318.
But the back-and-forth battle ultimately ended with Poirier losing a decision while absorbing 201 total strikes and suffering multiple knockdowns along the way. Of course, Poirier found a way to charge back from every dire moment and nearly scored a finish of his own in the second round before losing a unanimous decision to Holloway.
As Poirier’s head coach, Mike Brown has been with him through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows but he believes that the performance at UFC 318 really did signal it was time to walk away.
“It was the right time,” Brown told MMA Fighting about Poirier’s retirement. “Maybe in some ways had he won, it might bother him more to want to keep fighting. Even thought he was out, he was like maybe I should keep going, maybe that would be in his head. Right? Like I’m not sure. Maybe it was good for him that he had an exciting fight but didn’t get the ‘W.’ Maybe it was good for his psyche to accept that it’s time to move on.
“Because maybe had he knocked Max out or something, maybe it would bother him that he’s retiring too early or something like this. He’s obviously one of the best lightweights of all time. His resume is incredible and all that. But it was time. It’s good for him. He’s made a great life for himself.”
The fight played out in classic Poirier fashion but that’s not how it started.
Early in the opening round, Holloway blasted Poirier with a combination that sent him to the canvas. Holloway immediately jumped on top of him and began hammering away with punches and it looked like Poirier’s retirement fight might not make it past the first round.
Brown admits his heart nearly fell out of his chest during that sequence of events.
“It was scary as hell,” Brown confessed. “I thought oh no, it was like worst-case scenario. He got hurt bad, he dropped and now all of a sudden he’s mounted. Almost like a body triangle, almost the worst situation you could be in. It’s like oh no, how does he get out of this? This is not what we want. But somehow like he does, he survived it, battled out, got back to his feet, the place went nuts. Then he dropped Max shortly after in the next round. So it brought some big drama to the event and made for an exciting show.
“Had he got stopped in the first, that would have been terrible. Then, we’d be singing a different tune. We’d all be not so content with what went down. It would be a nightmare. But it was a great fight. I thought it was a competitive fight. In the end, Max won but I thought it was a competitive fight and Dustin had his opportunities. Had he done a few things differently or landed a couple of shots, the outcome could have been different.”
In the second round after another near-finish from Holloway, it was Poirier who turned the table with a knockdown of his own. Poirier followed up with more punches but then decided to grab onto a guillotine choke in an attempt to end his final fight with a submission.
Poirier has often talked about his love for the guillotine choke, and he even coined a phrase “don’t be silly, jump the gilly” despite never actually landing the submission to end a fight during his career.
Watching Poirier go for that move in his final fight didn’t surprise Brown, and for a split second, he actually started questioning his own faith when he thought perhaps the fight might be over.
“Honestly in that moment, I was happy he went for it,” Brown said. “I was like wow, I was thinking damn, there is a god. If he hits this, there’s no doubt about it, there is a god and he is involved in fighting. Had that happened, I would have thought for sure something’s going on here. Somebody’s pulling the strings. But I’m back to I’m not certain.
“That was incredible. He hurt him, it was short time and who would have thought that Max would be on his knees grabbing at his legs. We thought there was no chance he was ever going to be in a position to be jumping guillotine. There he was. He had one more guillotine for the road.”
When it was over, Holloway got the decision and he continues to move forward with his career while Poirier left his gloves in the octagon and officially called it a career.
There’s a million different scenarios about how that final fight could have played out but Brown was definitely proud of Poirier putting on that kind of performance one last time. He’s also confident that really is Poirier’s final appearance, especially after witnessing the love and adoration showered upon him from his home state of Louisiana.
“[Max Holloway is] really also one of the best fighters in the world, a legend, a Hall of Famer. So it wasn’t an easy fight,” Brown said. “[Dustin] challenged himself. He didn’t want an easy fight. He wanted a guy that was going to push him and be a tough fight. That’s what he got. Kudos to him for wanting to push himself.
“I’m happy that he got out unhurt, unscathed and with no major damage. 99-percent are forced out. Very few do it like Dustin did and picked his own path and chose his time to go.”