Even though Dana White and Co. are yet to make official announcements regarding the fights for UFC 313, social media has boomed with athletes confirming their stance for the March 2025 PPV. While nothing is known about the main event, there was one fight that succeeded in exciting the fight fans to the greatest extent. It was, of course, the rumor of Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway 3, that could possibly ‘save’ the event.

MMA Sound recently gave voice to a rumor about Poirier vs. Holloway at UFC 313 for a trilogy fight being in the works. Soon after that, MMA Sapiens took to Instagram and shared the news with the fighting community. The caption to the post read, “Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway is rumoured to be in the works for UFC 313! That’s a huge fight!”  

Although the main event for UFC 313 still lies in uncertainty, a few fighters have already confirmed, as per multiple sources, that they’d grace the T-Mobile Arena on 8th March. Joshua Van will get to fight Bruno Silva. Marion Santos will debut in the UFC against Francis Marshall. Alex Morono will take on Carlos Leal. Another report claimed that Djorden Santos will commence his UFC career against Ozzy Diaz. And lastly, Armen Petrosyan will lock horns with Bruno Ferreira. Needless to say, the event will be packed with action. 

But the fighting community has its eyes peeled out for the main event. Even though there’s no confirmation regarding the fight between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, the matchup succeeded in raising the entropy of the fight fans. And the credit goes to the history that the two share.

But let’s look at the status quo for a bit. Poirier is well on his way out of the game and wants to go out with a bang. He admitted that if he had beaten Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 last year, he would have laid down the gloves and the UFC belt then and there. Winning Holloway’s BMF belt would be a befitting way for the Louisiana native to bid adieu to a career that gave exciting fights time after time.

As for Max, he’s come a long way from ‘Muffin Top’ Max who last faced Poirier. ‘Blessed’ already has a win over Justin Gaethje and a win over Poirier could very well earn him a lightweight title shot. Beating two top 5 lightweights should excuse his featherweight title fight loss at Ilia Topuria’s hands. But what about the history Poirier and Holloway share?

The rivalry between Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway 

‘The Diamond’ and ‘Blessed’ have already met in the Octagon twice. The first matchup was during Poirier’s 4th UFC fight in the featherweight division. It was nothing short of a war at UFC 143. Within the first round, Poirier succeeded in submitting Holloway with an armbar. Needless to say, the fight put the Cajun fighter in the spotlight.

The duo met once again at UFC 236 as lightweights. Both of the fighters had built an impressive resume with wins over some of the strongest fighters in the UFC. With the interim lightweight championship belt on the line, things became a bit intense. Nevertheless, it was Poirier who dominated the Octagon and won via a unanimous decision. 

Now, after another failed attempt to claim the lightweight belt, ‘The Diamond’ wishes to go out in style. Earlier in November 2024, a fan tweeted, “[Dana White] made [Max Holloway] vs [Dustin Poirier] for the bmf title if this is Dustin’s final fight this the one we need.” To this, the former interim lightweight champion replied, “Last Dance.”

A rematch between ‘The Diamond’ and ‘Blessed’ would certainly raise the hype around the MMA realm. With both fighters nearing the end of their primes and having lost their previous bouts [both title fights], we can expect UFC 313 to be the last time we’ll see at least one of them [and we mean Poirier] in action. 

What are your thoughts about the matchup between Holloway and Poirier at UFC 313? Do you think the UFC head honcho would make it happen? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.