With his ranking of 4th on the UFC’s  pound for pound best fighter in the world list and being the UFC Featherweight Champion , Max Holloway(20-3) was strongly listed as the favorite to defeat Dustin Poirier(24-5) at UFC 236.

UFC 236 was not the first meeting between the two fighters as 7 years ago at UFC 143 Holloway and Poirier were trying to prove themselves as young up and comers. Although Holloway was defeated by Poirier in their first battle , their worlds collided once again during UFC 236 , this time competing for the interim UFC lightweight championship and the winner going on to have a future matchup with the suspended Undisputed Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Since their last meeting 7 years ago , Holloway would go on to win 18 of his last 20 fights and defeating the likes of former Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and former longtime Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. Poirier would go on to win 12 of his last 17 fights in his own right also defeating Pettis and another former champion in Eddie Alvarez.

With the staggering voice of Bruce Buffer introducing the two men , the excitement ran through the building as the fight was set to begin. In Round 1 began both men looked confident and ready but Poirier ( 24-5) threw a right hand and absolutely stunned and dropped Holloway(20-3). The difference in the power of punches between the two men were shown significantly as Poirier was throwing strong punches left and right at Holloway. Although during his strong push during start of the 2nd round , Holloway would once again get dropped by a right hand by Poirier and the cut on face of Holloway starts to show the significant strikes he was enduring.

During the 3rd and 4th rounds a bloody Holloway looked reinvented as he starts to find his momentum and throws well timed punches at Poirier. Although both men look drained , the spirit of both men shows how they both aspire to be champion. During the 5th round , both men look to finish the fight in a strong way as they both throw significant punches at each other for most of the round. As the 5th and final round comes to a close, the crowd stand on their feet and applaud  both men as respect was shown after a long 5 round war. With both Holloway and Poirier looking disfigured, they both wait for the final results as the judges ultimately award the contest to Dustin Poirier ( 25-5) via unanimous decision as he becomes the new interim Lightweight Champion and a future matchup with Undisputed Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was in toe.

Article by Marc Ray

Photo by The Peach Review

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