Max Holloway-Dustin Poirier Interim 155-Pound Title Fight Tops UFC 236 in Atlanta
BREAKING: Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) vs. Dustin Poirier (@DustinPoirier) for the interim lightweight championship will headline UFC 236 on April 13 in Atlanta. Full details: https://t.co/m8gVKdRz6M
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 23, 2019
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Late on Friday night, ESPN received word from UFC President Dana White that the promotion would be bringing an interim lightweight title fight to Atlanta on April 13. The event will take place in the State Farm Arena, and it will be headlined by Holloway (20-3) vs. Poirier (24-5, 1 NC).
According to Brett Okamoto via White, Tony Ferguson was initially offered the interim lightweight title fight against Holloway, but he declined to take it. Early Friday morning, Ferguson did post an image from the UFC 3 video game of him facing off against Conor McGregor, potentially floating the idea of him competing against McGregor.
Current featherweight champion Holloway has been a man possessed since losing to McGregor in 2013, reeling off 13 straight victories including 10 stoppages. Most recently, Holloway battered Brian Ortega at UFC 231 last December to earn a 4th round doctor stoppage to defend his belt. Holloway has earned four post-fight bonuses in his last four bouts, including rare double bonuses of both "Fight of the Night" and "Performance of the Night" when finishing Ortega.
Poirier has also been on a tear since losing to McGregor in 2014, winning eight bouts against just one defeat to Michael Johnson, and a no-contest against Eddie Alvarez. In his last three bouts, Poirier has finished former UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, former World Series of Fighting lightweight king Justin Gaethje and former UFC and Bellator MMA lightweight champ Alvarez. In his last five matches, Poirier has earned himself four post-fight bonuses, and his first bout with Alvarez at UFC 211 was well on its way to potentially earning "Fight of the Night" until illegal knees forced a no-contest.
UFC 236 will take place on April 13 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Headlining the event will be an interim lightweight title fight between Holloway and Poirier. In the co-main event, an interim middleweight championship has also been created, where Kelvin Gastelum will face Israel Adesanya while waiting for champ Robert Whittaker to recover.
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