Max Holloway vs Dustin Poirier For A UFC Interim Title Is The Most Confusing Yet Boner-Inducing Fight I've Seen In Quite Some Time
ESPN- An interim lightweight title fight between featherweight champion Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier will headline UFC 236 on April 13, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Friday. The UFC 236 pay-per-view event will take place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. An interim middleweight title fight between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya will serve as the co-main event.
Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0), the UFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, is serving a nine-month suspension for his role in a postfight brawl at UFC 229 in October. Nurmagomedov could have been eligible by April 13 had he filmed an anti-bullying message in Nevada, but he has stated he does not intend to return until this fall.
The UFC has opted to create an interim 155-pound title in his absence. According to White, Tony Ferguson was offered the interim lightweight title fight against Holloway, but he turned it down. Ferguson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ESPN.
Soooooooo, let me get this straight…
We’ve got a non-injured, perfectly fine UFC Lightweight Champion – Khabib Nurmagomedov – who will be eligible to fight as of July 6th (actually, April 6th, if he records an anti-bullying PSA for the state of Nevada, which he is refusing to do), and we’ve got a number-one contender on an eleven-fight win streak in the deepest division the UFC has to offer – Tony Ferguson – who won said division’s interim championship (guaranteeing him a shot at the real title) in October of 2017, and was stripped of it for no reason at all last April, yet in just two months, UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway will be moving up a division to take on the #3 ranked Lightweight in the world, Dustin Poirier, for an Interim Championship at 155lbs.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as down for this one as anybody, and transformed into this guy like The Incredible Hulk immediately upon reading the news…
…but this fight is a bit like a ‘Fast and the Furious’ movie – you sorta have to turn your brain off and remove basic logic to enjoy it.
Let’s break it down.
Khabib’s not fighting until November solely because that’s when his teammates were suspended until, being they ruthlessly and savagely attacked a defenseless fighter – Conor McGregor – inside the cage following his loss at UFC 229, which he deemed, “#1 bullshit”.
Okay, that shouldn’t be allowed, but fine – this creates a need for an Interim Championship.
Obviously, the two most deserving of a shot at this title are Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier, as Tony, like I mentioned previously, is on an ELEVEN-FIGHT WIN STREAK, and Poirier, who’s seen an unbelievable career resurgence since moving up from Featherweight in 2015, is 4-0-1 in his last five, with finishes over Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, and Eddie Alvarez in his last three (not even mentioning all of his Fight of the Night/Performance of the Night bonuses in those bouts).
Tony Ferguson gets offered this fight versus Max Holloway, and he turns it down.
He does this because one, why should he fight for another interim championship instead of just waiting around for the real deal, but two, because he may be chasing a bigger fight?
Possibly…or maybe because he’s injured?
Possibly…or maybe because he wants at shot at the Featherweight Championship…which Max Holloway holds, so Tony wants a shot at an…Interim Featherweight Championship?!?!?!
I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON BUT I SWEAR I’M TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT!
WHATEVER! LET’S MOVE ON!
Tony turns down Holloway at 155, and regardless of his reasoning for why – which is incredibly unclear, and very like Ferguson to do, complicating things for no reason whatsoever – Dustin Poirier gets the offer (a rematch for him, actually, for a fight he won back in 2012), and accepts.
Poirier, who just earlier this week, was so frustrated with the mess that is the Lightweight Division, booked a vacation and practically asked for his release from the company…
Oh, and as for Holloway – I have no idea where he came from, but being he’s one of my favorite fighters in the world right now, I don’t care. I’m stoked about getting to see him in that cage soon, and delighted that we don’t have to watch him cut down to Featherweight beforehand, being we’ve seen some scary issues in that department in the past.
So yeah, while the Lightweight Division is an absolute shitshow, and has been for a very long time now, it’s still the most entertaining mixed martial arts division on the planet, and this fight is still going to fucking rule. Can’t wait.