Max Holloway was left furious after his UFC 318 main event fight with Dustin Poirier as revealed by backstage footage immediately after the bout.
Holloway took on Poirier in the latter’s final MMA fight in his home state. The BMF title fight saw both fighters go head to head in front of a crowd all desperate to see Poirier sign off with a final UFC victory.
Also on the card in New Orleans was Paulo Costa’s defeat of Roman Kopylov, Daniel Rodriguez beating Kevin Holland, Patricio Pitbull getting the better of Dan Ige and Michael Johnson’s victory over Daniel Zellhuber.
On the preliminary card, Ateba Abega Gautier beat Robert Valentin with a TKO, and Brendan Allen was victorious over Marvin Vettori through unanimous decision in their middleweight bout.
Max Holloway beat Dustin Poirier by unanimous decision at UFC 318
And that grudge fight was deemed the ‘Fight of the Night’, picking up the $50,000 prize and pipping the Holloway-Poirier bout to the lucrative bonus.
In new footage released from backstage showed Holloway and Poirier reunited quickly after their emotional battle, embracing and reflecting on the night’s events – with the pair agreeing that they were robbed of the Fight of the Night award.
“Bro, how did we not get Fight of the Night?” Holloway asked Poirier at the Smoothie King Center, with the pair agreeing to take the matter to UFC supremo Dana White to try and get the decision overturned.
Dana White congratulated Dustin Poirier on his retirement from UFC after the fight.
As Poirier looked shocked, Holloway continued: “No, it’s some bulls—, go tell f—ing Dana. Tell him he’s the f—ing man, kiss his a–. They gave it to freaking Allen and Vettori. I don’t even know, we almost finished each other in the same damn round! What the hell, bro?”
However despite the injustice, Poirier showed his class by shaking Holloway’s hand and saying: “You got the belt, you’re the champ. It was an honour, bro.”
Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Dustin Poirier, MMA, Max Holloway, UFC, Dana White
