Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway | Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images

Michael Bisping is just as excited for UFC 318 as the rest of us.

This Saturday, the UFC returns to Louisiana for the first time in a decade for UFC 318. The event is built around the retirement of Dustin Poirier, who challenges Max Holloway for the “BMF” title in the main event. And though Poirier won the first two encounters with Holloway, Bisping says things aren’t quite the same this time around.

“They’ve fought twice,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Dustin Poirier won both of those fights. Submitted Max in his UFC debut at UFC 143 way back in 2012. They would fight again, many, many years later at UFC 236 in 2019. This time it was for the interim championship and it went five rounds … but Dustin Poirier clearly won. Again, the older guy, more experienced, just a little bit stronger, a little bit bigger. But all those advantages that he had are now turning into disadvantages. There’s more miles on the clock, he is a little bit older, the wear and tear starts to add up, and, of course, so do the losses. …

“Those become little chinks in the armor. You start to realize that you’re not invincible anymore, and maybe you’re not going to become the champion.”

Poirier certainly knows he won’t become a UFC champion at this stage, and has even said that’s one of the primary reasons he’s hanging up the gloves—because he doesn’t want to fight just to fight. And given that, and the other circumstances around the fight, Bisping isn’t sure what to make of Poirier heading into this one.

“Is the motivation still there?” Bisping said. “It’s in New Orleans, his hometown, and the UFC are going there specifically for Dustin Poirier, and that’s incredible. That could be the fairy tale farewell to an unbelievable career of one of everyone’s favorite fighters. But it brings a lot of pressure, it brings a lot of anxiety. You’ve got friends and family, they’re all in town, they all want to see you perform, you’re like the local hero. It brings a lot of pressure, I’m telling you right now. I’ve been there many times. Every time I fought in England, it was a little bit more stressful. But I was also undefeated in England because you want to do the people justice, you want to make them proud, and it pushes you in the training camp.”

Bisping also noted Holloway has a lot to fight for this week. Aside from getting revenge for two previous losses, Holloway is still competing, and now that he’s moved up to lightweight, this is a big opportunity to put himself in the title mix immediately.

“Max Holloway is coming into this one very motivated as well, because Max Holloway doesn’t want to lose two trilogies,” Bisping said. “Of course, he lost three in a row to Alexander Volkanovski, he doesn’t want to lose three in a row to Dustin Poirier. …

“You’ve got to think here for Max Holloway, if he can beat Dustin Poirier, he inserts himself into the conversation. … If Max Holloway gets a big win here, and gets another one in the meantime, he is putting himself into that conversation.”

However things shake out Saturday, Bisping is sure of one thing: we’re in for a banger of a fight.

“When you look at them both, they’re both great strikers. I don’t think we’re going to see any wrestling out of this. They’re both going to go toe-to-toe, they’re going to throw down. It’s going to be absolutely sensational. …

“It’s going to be tremendous, and it will be the final time we get to see Dustin Poirier compete inside the octagon, but I don’t know if he’s going to be the winner. Listen, never doubt Dustin Poirier, but never doubt Max Holloway. Yes, Max Holloway was just knocked out against Ilia Topuria, so that could present some problems for him. That could have weakened the chin. Sometimes people get cracked, they get knocked out, and they’re never the same again. Or it could have lit a fire under his ass and he’s like, ‘You know what? I’m going to show the people. I’m coming to Louisiana to whoop some ass.’ And honestly, at this point, I don’t know which way it’s going down.”

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VIDEO STEW

UFC Nashville Post Show.

All the finishes from UFC Nashville.

Derrick Lewis post fight.

UFC 318 Countdown.

Max Holloway fight camp.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Ben Askren update.

People want to find out.

MMA things.

This is how you sell a matchup.

Kevin Lee is definitely gonna move into pro wrestling now, isn’t he?

WARNING: Disgusting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Look, in total, UFC 318 isn’t a great card. But man, that main event is sick. Two all-time great action fighters locking up for one more dance. This is the odds-on leader for Fight of the Year and they two men haven’t even fought yet. Can’t wait.

EXIT POLL

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