Dustin Poirier will enter his closing Octagon look at UFC 318 later tonight (Sat., July 19, 2025) stay on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Smoothie King Middle in New Orleans, La., and “Diamond” does so with the total help of former UFC light-weight champion and former foe, Islam Makhachev.
Regardless of by no means successful undisputed UFC gold, Poirier is among the most revered and beloved fighters in all of combined martial arts (MMA). The long-time UFC veteran has fought among the greatest names within the sport and has received a lot of these fights as properly. From his wars with Conor McGregor and Max Holloway to his unimaginable performances towards Justin Gaethje and Dan Hooker, “Diamond” will at all times be remembered as probably the most entertaining fighters ever.
One other key second in Poirier’s profession got here at UFC 302 in June 2024 (his final struggle) when he confronted Makhachev for the UFC light-weight title. Poirier had come up significantly brief to Khabib Nurmagomedov again in 2019 so he hoped for some redemption towards Makhachev. Whereas Makhachev went on to seize a memorable fifth-round submission end it was arguably his hardest struggle thus far. Poirier hung in robust and almost knocked off the pound-for-pound greatest fighter on the earth.
In flip, Poirier and Makhachev have shaped a little bit of a friendship. In response to Makhachev, who’s now pursuing gold within the UFC’s welterweight division, the 2 fighters textual content rather a lot. Makhachev is totally backing Poirier for his final struggle this weekend at UFC 318 when “Diamond” meets Holloway in a trilogy struggle for UFC’s “BMF” title.
Test it out beneath:
Islam Makhachev is rooting for Dustin Poirier this weekend
“100% [I will root for Dustin]. He is my man, I’ll root for him. We textual content one another rather a lot. And that is his final struggle, I feel he’ll come out at his peak. I want him luck and I feel he’ll win.”
IG / Okko MMA… pic.twitter.com/FGQC4gsPr4
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 18, 2025
“100% [I will root for Dustin]. He’s my man, I’ll root for him,” stated Makhachev throughout a current interview with okko.mma. “We textual content one another rather a lot. And that is his final struggle, I feel he’ll come out at his peak. I want him luck and I feel he’ll win.”
MMAmania.com will ship LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow protection of the complete UFC 318 struggle card proper RIGHT HERE, beginning with the early ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, adopted by the remaining undercard stability on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, earlier than the UFC 318 PPV major card begin time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To take a look at the newest and biggest UFC 318: “Holloway vs. Poirier 3” information and notes you should definitely hit up our complete occasion archive proper right here. For the up to date and finalized UFC 318 struggle card and PPV lineup click on right here.