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Usually a retirement / trilogy fight in the UFC pits a fighter looking to take the rubber match but this one is all so different. On Saturday night July 19, 2025, UFC 318 Pay Per View from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana Dustin Poirier will supposedly fight for the last time in his home state and lay down his gloves at the center of the octagon when it's all over. Former Interim Lightweight Champion Poirier has already beaten former Lightweight Champion Max Holloway twice all the way back in 2019 & 2012. So why is Poirier fighting Holloway as the feature fight on pay per view when he's already beaten him twice and this isn't even a championship fight?
Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria fought just a two weeks ago so he's not in the mix. #2 ranked lightweight Armen Tsarukyan was the backup for Topuria's fight and you can't ask him to cut weight again in such a short period of time. #3 ranked lightweight Charles Oliveira lost to Topuria on June 28th. #4 ranked Justin Gaethje might be next in line to fight Topuria so they couldn't risk him losing in a trilogy fight. That was the fight the public wanted not a blah at best feature fight & trash pay per view card that the UFC is pushing for $79.99. The 2nd most popular fighter in the division and future championship contender #10 ranked Paddy Pimblett is obviously not quite ready for Topuria so they can't risk him losing to Poirier. That's how we got here with #6 ranked Poirier taking on #5 ranked Holloway.
With the recent retirement of John Jones & no fight from Connor McGregor in the past 4 years or immediate future the UFC has gone flat as a pancake so far in 2025. If I was in charge of the UFC this would be the perfect card to charge $49.99 or even $39.99. Not only is there not a title fight on this Pay Per View, only one other fighter #10 ranked Marvin Vettori is even in the top 10. This is at best a mediocre UFC Fight night card. The cards have been less stellar this year and why not show some goodwill to the fans for once. It's not like the UFC isn't swimming in money. UFC fighters typically only receive 16-20% of the revenue where sports like the NFL & NBA pay the athletes roughly 50%. If the UFC wasn't so money hungry they might realize for once that sometimes it's better to take one step back before you try to take 2-3 steps forward.
What's in this fight & card for the fans? Poirier is popular but there might be a storyline here. UFC President & CEO Dana White recently founded Power Slap & in 2023 the UFC combined with the WWF to form a publicly traded company called TKO Group Holdings. We all know that the WWF loves storylines! I'm betting that Poirier (-110) finds a way to win this fight Inside The Distance by KO/TKO, Submission or decision. He then comes out of retirement in the next year to fight the winner of the next Topuria championship fight or in a more interesting true trilogy fight against Justin Gaethje. Dustin Poirier might be able to name his price and own half of his hometown Lafayette, Louisiana if everything plays out his way.
-Lee Sterling has been the President / CEO of Paramount Sports for 31 years. He's heard on over 50 radio stations & podcasts weekly during football & basketball season. He was the #1 overall handicapper out of over 40 other handicappers at Covers for 2 straight years. His UFC packages as well as all other sports are available at ParamountSports.com or by calling 1-800-400-9741.
- Lee Sterling, Special Contributor ParamountSports.com
