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Holloway Still BMF & Ready for Run at the UFC Lightweight title
The third fight looked very similar to the second fight with the different element of Holloway having put on the size to really be a lightweight. The extra muscle was evident as Holloway was barely able to hurt Poirier in the second fight to knocking “The Diamond” down in the first and staggering him on a pair of occasions.
As he did his entire career, Poirier came back evening the knockdown count at one a piece. The third, fourth, and fifth rounds were a battle between Poirier’s power and Holloway’s Volume including a very concentrated effort attacking the Poirier’s body.
For the first time in the rivalry Holloway gets his hand raised retaining the BMF title and ending the series down two wins to one to Poirier.
Unlike his first trip to 155 lbs. Holloway now looks fully the part of a Lightweight. The added size has increased his punching power. And even more importantly Holloway took some of Poirier’s best punches displaying no residual effects from being knocked out by Illia Topuria. The man you can expect Holloway to be gunning for.
Thus, also ends the career of the former interim Lightweight Dustin “The Daimond” Poirier. A fan favorite who never took a short cut and always left all he had inside the octagon. Poirier also has a legacy of being one of the biggest humanitarians to have fought for the UFC. A great fighter and a better person.
For the first time in nearly three years Paulo Costa got his hand raised in victory taking a decision win over Roman Kopylov. The “Eraser” once again has his swagger walking Kopylov. The massively muscled Brazilian battering his Russian counterpart with brutal body kicks. Costa’s footwork made a huge difference as the two fighters were in opposite stances and Costa was the party get angling off to evade allowing him to score with his power right hand.
As he’s known to do Kevin Holland put on a fan friendly fight just the kind Daniel Rodriguez likes to be apart of. Both fighters got off to their desired starts. Holland wiping out volumes of strikes with great accuracy while Rodriguez was landing his power shots. “D-Rod” found paydirt knocking Holland down twice in the second round. Holland regrouped in the third scoring a knockdown of his own and getting offense off from having Rodriguez back but to no avail as the first two rounds went ion Rodriguez’s favor.
Former Bellator Featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull got his hand raised for the first time inside the octagon, taking a unanimous decision from Dan Ige. A pair of takedowns gave Pitbull the narrow edge over Ige in the first. A right uppercut in the second sat Ige on his back. The Hawaiian fighter came back in the third putting the Brazilian in survival mode after he level changed for a takedown right into an Ige Knee.
Michael Johnson started the main card off with a unanimous decision win over Daniel Zellhuber. Johnson’s biggest moment of the fight came in the second round when he sat Zellhuber down with a straight left hand. That makes three wins in a row for the 39-year-old.
The prelims had some stellar performance including Vinicius Oliveira beating Kyler Phillps by decision after walking down Phillps with a reckless regard for what was coming back his way while throwing bombing from his low hanging hands.
Brendan Allen tattooed the body and busted up the nose of Marvin Vettori to win a decision in a ranked Middleweight showdown. Five of the first six fights on the card ended in the first round and none was more impressive than Ateba Gautier’s knockout of Robert Valentin, Gautier picked his shots, landed hard dropping Valentin with a right hand and finished with a few more punches on the ground. Full Results.
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