Dustin Poirier Names Max Holloway Fight as His Toughest UFC Win

Dustin Poirier has fought and beaten some of the biggest names in the history of the UFC. Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, and Conor McGregor are just a few of the names that Poirier has added to his legendary fighting resume.

But when it comes to discussing the best wins of his career, Poirier puts former UFC featherweight champion and former interim lightweight title challenger Max Holloway at the top of the list.

Poirier earned the interim lightweight title at UFC 236, in a back-and-forth war in which he squeaked out the unanimous decision win in a fight that had its fair share of challenges. While Holloway lost his lightweight debut, he earned the respect of Poirier as an extremely skilled opponent.

During a recent question-and-answer session on ESPN+, Poirier explained why he thinks Holloway gave him his toughest challenge out of any of the fights he’s won.

“He matched the grit that I bring, which I don’t think is easy to do, and his durability was amazing,” Poirier said. “He took some heavy shots, I knew he was hurt multiple times, and every time the bell rang, he answered it.”

“He came out ready to scrap and I’m thankful for it because I learned a lot in that fight.”

After defeating Holloway, Poirier went on to lose the lightweight title unification bout against then-champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. He would go on to beat Dan Hooker in a five-round war before earning back-to-back wins over McGregor.

Holloway is coming off arguably the best performance of his career against Calvin Kattar and before that losing back-to-back controversial decisions against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Many have advocated for a third fight between him and the champion in the future.

What are your thoughts on Dustin Poirier’s comments regarding Max Holloway?