Set for his career swansong at UFC 318 this summer, former interim champion, Dustin Poirier has revealed he planned a four-man, one-night symbolic BMF title tournament to take place between himself, Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje, and Dan Hooker — before Dana White shot the idea down.
Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion, competes for the symbolic BMF crown for the second time this summer, headlining UFC 318 in a trilogy fight with the incumbent, Holloway — in a return to his native New Orleans for his retirement outing.
Sidelined since he took main event honors at UFC 302 in June of last year, Lafayette fan-favorite, Poirier suffered an eventual fifth round D’Arce choke submission loss to pound-for-pound leader, Islam Makhachev, failing in his third bid to become undisputed champion.
But drawing the curtain on a gleaming career this summer, Louisiana star, Dustin Poirier looks to keep his perfect record of two-wins over Holloway in tact — and add a third, in fact.
Dustin Poirier planned four-men, one-night BMF title tournament
And if he had his own way, his BMF title fight would take place all in the space of a single night — seeing four of his fellow lightweight staples compete in a stunning tournament.
Let’s do a BMF tournament,” Dustin Poirier told Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned. “And I pitched me, (Justin) Gaethje, Max (Holloway), and (Dan) Hooker. So, I don’t know, maybe that’s why they put — no clue really. Yeah, me and Dana (White) sat down in his office and talked about it. But he thought I was talking about like a few month tournament, where the guys fight each other, then a few months later they fight again. I was talking about a one-night tournament.
“He told me nobody would sanction that,” Poirier explained. And I would be totally down with doing a 10-minute first round.”
