UFC 318 Preview and Predictions: Max Holloway Has His Eye on the Belts 

Fans of martial arts and fighting sports, rejoice! It is that time once again as the world of MMA is gearing up for yet another spectacle when Ultimate Fighting Championship returns with UFC 318: Holloway vs. Poirier 3 next weekend. It has been almost a month since UFC 317 finished, and with one ESPN special in the meantime, the fans are ready for a bigger event once again. There is a lot to unpack with this one, so let us get to it. 

If you are a fan of the sport and enjoy placing online sports bets, this is a prime opportunity for you to make an amazing betting ticket. The rivalry is there, championship belts are on the line, and there are enough bouts to cover all of the different weight classes. In this guide, we also bring you exclusive UFC 318 Expert Picks as well as the key first hand information from the octagon by Max Holloway himself, who is ready for more glory and more titles to his name. 

UFC 318 Key Facts and Overview

The new Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion is on schedule for July 19, 2025, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Located in the Central Business District and adjacent to the Caesars Superdome, it is a famous arena well equipped for a whole range of sports, and as a home of the New Orleans Pelicans (NBA), it is used to its fair share of action and big events. It will be the sixth time that the most popular mixed martial arts promotion is visiting The Big Easy, and the first since the Boetsch vs. Henderson Fight Night in June of 2015. A long time coming, for sure. There are 5 bouts in the early preliminary card, 4 bouts in the preliminary card, and 5 in the main card. 

The event is headlined by the titular Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier lightweight championship bout, with the former defending his belt against the latter. It is their third meeting, and will double as the retirement fight of the 36 year old Poirier. They first fought at UFC 143 in February of 2012, a long time ago, in what was Holloway’s promotional debut. He lost by a triangle armbar submission. The second time around, it was April 2019 and UFC 236, and Poirier won yet again, becoming the interim lightweight champion after winning via unanimous decision. The fight also ended Holloway’s win streak of 13 fights. It is safe to say that this is a great chance for Max to get his first win and make those two losses easier to handle career and legacy wise. 

Bouts Schedule Overview 

The fans are in for a treat since there are 14 fights to enjoy on July 13 across all the different classes and weights. For all of these fights, make sure to check out Stake.com for the best odds and betting markets. In the early preliminary card, and to kick the night off, there is a women’s flyweight bout between Carli Judice and Nicolle Caliari. After that, Bruno Ferreira and Jackson McVey will clash in the middleweight class, followed by a heavyweight bout where Ryan Spann takes on Lukasz Brzeski. In the light heavyweight division, Jimmy Crute will face off against Marcin Prachino, before Adam Fugitt and Islam Dulatov have their welterweight matchup as the final early preliminary card bout.

There are 4 preliminary card fights on schedule. In the first middleweight, Ateba Abega Gautier will fight Robert Valentin, and in the second, Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen clash. There is a welterweight fight between those two as Francisco Prado steps into the octagon against Nikolay Veretennikov. The final preliminary card features Kyler Phillips against Vinicius Oliveira in a bantamweight clash. After that, it is onto the main card and the most exciting fights.

The first of the five is going to be a lightweight matchup between Michael Johnson and Daniel Zellhuber. It is then onto the featherweight class and a matchup that features Dan Ige and Patricio Pitbull. In the welterweight division, we get to watch Kevin Holland versus Daniel Rodriguez. Then we move to the middleweight division and Paulo Costa against Roman Kopyrov. Finally, the main event of the night features the lightweight championship bout, where Mac Holloway will fight Dustin Poirier. 

UFC 318 Odds and Predictions 

While the fans may have their favorites in each fight, it is ultimately the professional online analysts and sportsbooks who have the deepest insight and whose opinion matters most. If you wish to bet on MMA fights in this upcoming event, then you need a proper UFC 318 Sportsbook that has each bout and good odds to make use of. 

Carli Judice is the heavy favorite against Nicolle Caliari with 1.38 odds versus 3.05 odds. Bruno Ferreira is an even bigger favorite according to the bookies, as he is given 1.14 odds versus Jackson McVey with 5.80. Lukasz Brzeski is the underdog with 3.00 odds when he faces Ruan Spann, who gets 1.40 odds. The same goes for Marcin Prachnio and Jim Crute, with 3.35 and 1.33 odds, respectively, in what is so far a slew of one sided matchups according to the odds. And that continues when Islam Dulatov, with 1.18, goes up against Adam Fugitt with 5.00.

Robert Valentin has 4.40 odds entering his bout against Ateba Gautier with 1.22. In the most balanced and uncertain fight, Nikolay Veretennikov is only a slight underdog with 2.17 odds against Francisco Prado with 1.70 odds. Brendan Allen enters the fight against Marvin Vettori as a favorite, 1.42 odds versus 2.90, respectively. And in the final preliminary card, Vinicius de Oliveira got 1.55 odds against Kuler Phillips with 2.48. 

Onto the main fights of the night, Daniel Zellhuber is a strong candidate to win the match. He has 1.20 odds while his opponent, Michael Johnson, only received 4.60. Patricio Pitbull is the less favorite fighter in his matchup versus Dan Ige, with 2.40 and 1.58 odds, respectively. Kevin Holland is a strong favorite in the Daniel Rodriguez fight with 1.21 odds, considering his opponent’s 4.40. Roman Koyplov has been favored by the bookie experts and got 1.37, while Paulo Henrique Costa is at 3.10. Finally, in the big fight, Max Holloway is the favorite to make it 1-2 against Dustin Poirier, but not by a lot. The retiring veteran is the underdog but only slightly, with 2.08, while the 33 year old Max has 1.76 odds of winning his first fight against him. 

Expert Card Picks and Winning Method 

Here is a quick rundown of the fights and the winning method for each by the experts. Combining this with the aforementioned odds can give you a great advantage in making your predictions when betting on this UFC event. 

What was Said in the Exclusive Max Holloway Interview?

What better way for the fans to prepare for the upcoming event than to examine what was said in the Max Holloway UFC 318 Interview with the Stake sportsbook? As he is the official Stake Ambassador and the main partner for all things MMA and UFC, the legendary fighter sat down with the online casino and sportsbook platform for a deep dive into the upcoming fight. The BMF Champion is preparing to complete the trilogy of fights against his fellow legend Dustin Poirier at next weekend’s Ultimate Fighting Championship blockbuster. A lot was said in the talk, so make sure to read on to examine what was said, as it can greatly help you both as a fan and a sports betting enthusiast. 

The first thing Stake wanted to know was how Max would compare his CV, i.e., career, to his opponent’s. The question was, “How does your CV compare to Dustin Poirier’s CV?”, to which Max said, “I mean his CV is very good, he has fought for a bunch of titles,” adding, “When he fought me, he did win the interim title and at the end of the day, I think the reason why me and him are so respected is because they know that we we are fighters and we never shied away from tough fights.” 

Next, the sportsbook interviewer asked if the win would put him in line for a shot at the title. Holloway said, “When the title fight got announced, Oliveira vs Topuria, I think I was the happiest man alive because I have history with both of them.” That is exactly how a champion should think, don’t you agree? He added, “Then with me having the opportunity and someone like Dustin Poirier, who just had his last fight was for the 155 title. If I go out there, I do something spectacular and I get my hand raised, who’s to say no?” Holloway continued, saying, “If I hold out there and [perform], it is going to be hard to deny me. I do not think a title shot is that far off, maybe by the end of the year, or maybe mid next year. Who knows?” 

An interesting question was raised when Stake wanted to know if, at this point in his career, Holloway was more keen on fighting legends like Dustin or big title fights. Max was plain with his answer: “I am here to get a title, I am here to get an undisputed title, I want to put my name in the history books along with the guys who held two belts in two different weight classes.” Can it be any simpler? Max continued, “And if I can get my name etched in the record books like that, then that would be amazing, so that is my main goal right now.” 

As they usually do, the platform asked about who his dream fight in the UFC would be. “You know, the only one that I would want to fight that I never ever got to fight was Daniel Cormier. This guy thinks he can just keep taking everything I work for, you know.” Holloway has strong opinions about this, obviously. “He gets to eat as much as he wants, he has to drink as much soda as he wants, and he thinks he is the baddest man on the planet. We have to solve this.” He finished the question with, “I would like to have a go against him and whoop his ass for old time’s sake!” 

Stake asked about Ilia Topuria and if Max thinks the fighter is the hardest P4P puncher in the history of UFC. Max got straight to the point, “When I was in there, I did not feel like this guy hit so much harder, but the guy must hit hard, cause when you are hit hard, then your body does something that it is not used to.” An experienced fighter like Max would definitely know it. “And then you think to yourself, what the hell? But comparing his punch, when I fought Gaethje, I felt some things. I felt that Gaethje hits hard and kicks hard. When Ilia hit me, nothing was like ‘oh man, he hits hard or whatever,’ but you have to say that he hits hard because you see what happens to people when he touches them.” 

To finish the interview, he was asked if the fans would see him fighting at the White House. “We will see what happens, man, things have got to line up, times have got to line up perfectly, but never say never. This sport is crazy. If I had the choice, I mean, why not? I think that would be huge, a one time opportunity. To be a part of history would be amazing.”