UFC Tonight: What Time Does The UFC 318 Fight Card Start?

Forbes

3 days ago

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 18: (L-R) Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier face off during the UFC 318 ... More ceremonial weigh-ins at Smoothie King Center on July 18, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Zuffa LLC)
The UFC 318 pay-per-view fight card goes down tonight at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The UFC BMF title is on the line in the main event, Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier 3. In addition, the headlining matchup is also Poirier's retirement fight.
The UFC 318 PPV fight card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Below, we look at details for the UFC 318 main card bouts and the start time for each portion of the UFC 318 fight card.
UFC 318 Fight Card: Date, Time, Location, How To Watch Or Stream
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2025
Location: Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA
Main Card Start Time: 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View
Preliminary Card Start Time: 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN+
Early Prelims Start Time: 6:00 p.m ET on ESPN+, UFC Fight Pass
UFC 318 Pay-Per-View Card: Holloway Vs. Poirier 3
Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier - Lightweight - For Holloway's BMF title
Paulo Costa vs. Roman Kopylov - Middleweight
Kevin Holland vs. Daniel Rodriguez - Welterweight
Dan Ige vs. Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire - Featherweight
Michael Johnson vs. Daniel Zellhuber - Lightweight
UFC 318 Preliminary Fight Card: Holloway Vs. Poirier 3
Kyler Phillips vs. Vinicius Oliveira - Bantamweight
Marvin Vettori vs. Brendan Allen - Middleweight
Francisco Prado vs. Nikolay Veretennikov - Welterweight
Ateba Gautier vs. Robert Valentin - Middleweight
UFC 318 Early Prelims Fight Card: Holloway Vs. Poirier 3
Adam Fugitt vs. Islam Dulatov - Welterweight
Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio - Light Heavyweight
Ryan Spann vs. Lukasz Brzeski - Heavyweight
Brunno Ferreira vs. Jackson McVey - Middleweight
Carli Judice vs. Nicolle Caliari - Women's Flyweight
UFC 318 Main Event: Max Holloway Vs. Dustin Poirier 3
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 17: (L-R) Opponents Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier face off during ... More the UFC 318 press conference at Smoothie King Center on July 17, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC)
Dustin Poirier (30-9-0-1) has been a UFC fighter since 2011. At the time he had a 7-1 record. Between 2011 and 2018, Poirier went 16-4-0-1, picking up notable wins over Max Holloway, Bobby Green, Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, and Eddie Alvarez. His losses during that stretch came to The Korean Zombie, Cub Swanson, Conor McGregor, and Michael Johnson.
Poirier's wins over Miller, Pettis, Gaethje, and Alvarez set him up to fight for the interim UFC lightweight title against then-UFC featherweight titleholder Max Holloway. Poirier was the No. 3 ranked fighter in the UFC 155-pound division at the time, April 2019. Poirier claimed the interim crown with a decision win.
In September 2019, Poirier faced Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title unification bout. Nurmagomedov won that contest by third-round submission.
Three wins after that, including two TKO victories over Conor McGregor, put Poirier in another lightweight title fight. He lost that battle to Charles Oliveira, falling to a rear-naked choke in the third round of their December 2021 matchup.
The 36-year-old Poirier is 2-2 since that setback with wins over Michael Chandler and Benoit Saint Denis. Poirier's losses during that run came against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title and, most recently, opposite Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 302 in June 2024.
Poirier has 15 fight-night bonus awards, which ties him for fourth all-time in that category. Poirier is the No. 6 ranked UFC lightweight.
Max Holloway (26-8) has been with the UFC since 2012. If there's a stat that the UFC tracks, chances are Holloway is among the leaders. He holds the UFC featherweight record for wins (20), finishes (11), knockouts (nine), win streak (13 straight), total fight time (6:58:57), significant strikes landed (2,971), and total strikes landed (3,180). Holloway's overall UFC records include significant strikes landed (3,457) and total strikes landed (3,706).
Holloway's run as UFC featherweight champ began in June 2017 when he knocked out Jose Aldo. Holloway entered that contest as the interim champ, a belt he won by knocking out Anthony Pettis in December 2016. He defended his title against Aldo (TKO), Brian Ortega (TKO), and Frankie Edgar (decision). He also attempted to win the interim UFC lightweight belt during that run, but he fell short, dropping a decision to Dustin Poirier.
Holloway's championship run ended in December 2019 when Alexander Volkanovski beat him by decision. Volkanovski retained the title in an immediate rematch.
Wins over Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez earned Holloway another shot at Volkanovski and his title in July 2022, but the champ retained his belt with a decision win.
Holloway followed that setback with wins over Arnold Allen, the Korean Zombie, and Justin Gaethje. The Gaethje victory, a fight that many voted 'Fight of the Year' and 'Knockout of the Year,' earned Holloway the BMF title. That fight took place at 155 pounds.
Holloway followed his BMF title win with the first knockout loss of his career, falling to Ilia Topuria in a UFC featherweight title fight in October 2024.
Holloway was recently removed from the UFC featherweight rankings per his request. He is ranked at No. 5 at 155 pounds and sits at No. 11 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
UFC 318 Co-Main Event: Paulo Costa Vs. Roman Kopylov
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 17: (L-R) Opponents Paulo Costa of Brazil and Roman Kopylov of Russia ... More face off during the UFC 318 press conference at Smoothie King Center on July 17, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Paulo Costa (14-4) was 8-0 and coming off a defense of the Jungle Fight middleweight title when he joined the UFC in 2017. He opened his run with the promotion with four knockouts and one decision. That decision, an August 2019 win over Yoel Romero, earned Costa a shot at Adesanya in September 2020. Adesanya retained his title in that fight, knocking out Costa in the second round.
Costa has not been an active competitor in the UFC. Between 2018 and 2022 he stepped into the Octagon once per year. He did not compete at all in 2023. In 2024, Costa went 0-2, losing a unanimous decision to former UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker in February and then dropping a split decision to ex-UFC 185 kingpin Sean Strickland in June.
Costa has not competed since his loss to Strickland at UFC 302.
Costa is 1-4 in his past five UFC outings. His only win during that stretch, which began with the Adesanya loss, was a August 2022 decision win over former UFC middleweight titleholder Luke Rockhold.
A former Fight Nights Global middleweight champ, Roman Kopylov (14-3) joined the UFC in 2019 with an 8-0 record. Kopylov had seven straight knockout wins heading into his UFC debut, a fight he lost to Karl Roberson via submission.
COVID-19 and visa issues kept Kopylov out of action until October 2021. When he returned to the Octagon, Kopylov dropped a decision to Albert Duraev.
Kopylov seemed to find his footing after those back-to-back losses. Between September 2022 and September 2023, he went 4-0 with four knockout wins.
That winning streak did not earn Kopylov a spot inside the top 15 of the UFC's middleweight division, but it did get him booked opposite the No. 15 ranked Anthony Hernandez at UFC 298 in February. Hernandez won that fight via second-round submission.
Kopylov came back from that defeat to beat César Almeida at UFC 302. In his most recent outing, Kopylov stoppedChris Curtis via head kick, in a 'Fight of the Night' affair on A UFC Fight Night card in January 2025.
UFC 318 Fight Card: Kevin Holland Vs. Daniel Rodriguez
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 17: (L-R) Opponents Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez face off during ... More the UFC 318 press conference at Smoothie King Center on July 17, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Kevin Holland (28-13-0-1) was 12-3 when he earned his shot at a UFC contract on a Dana White's Contender Series card in June 2018. Despite getting a win, UFC CEO Dana White did not offer Holland a contract.
However, Holland got the chance to fight for the UFC in August 2018 when Thiago Santos needed a short-notice opponent. Holland has been one of the more active UFC competitors since losing that contest by decision, fighting at middleweight and welterweight.
Holland followed the loss to Santos with an 8-1 run, a stretch that included five victories between May 2020 and December 2020. His last win of that run was a 'Performance of the Night' bonus-winning knockout of ex-Strikeforce champion Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza.
Holland's career has been up-and-down since the highlight-reel win over Souza. He has a 7-8-0-1 record since then, never winning, or losing, more than two fights in a row.
Holland is 2-2 in his past four outings, losing back-to-back fights to Roman Dolidze and Reinier de Ridder via stoppage before putting together a two-fight winning streak with victories over Gunnar Nelson and most recently, Vicente Luque.
The 32-year Holland's two recent losses were at middleweight, his wins, both of which earned him a 'Performance of the Night' bonus, came at welterweight, where he is the No. 13 ranked fighter.
Daniel Rodriguez (19-5) began his UFC career on a great run. Debuting with the promotion in 2020 with a 'Performance of the Night' bonus-winning submission win over veteran competitor Tim Means, Rodriguez went 8-1 in his first nine fights with the promotion. His only loss during that stretch was a decision setback to Nicolas Dalby in Rodriguez's fourth UFC fight of 2020.
A September 2022 split decision win over Li Jingliang at UFC 279 put him in the co-main event of a UFC Fight Night card opposite veteran gatekeeper Neil Magny. At the time of that scrap, Magny was the No. 13 fighter in the UFC's welterweight division, while Rodriguez was No. 14. Magny turned back Rodriguez, submitting him in the third round.
Rodriguez followed that setback with a TKO loss to Ian Machado Garry and a decision defeat to Kelvin Gastelum in a fight that was contested at middleweight after Gastelum had weight cutting issues.
Rodriguez has bounced back from that three-fight losing skid with a decision win over Alex Morono in October 2024 and a TKO victory over Santiago Ponzinibbio in May. A win over Holland would likely put the 38-year-old Rodriguez back in the UFC rankings.
UFC 318 Fight Card: Dan Ige Vs. Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 17: (L-R) Opponents Dan Ige and Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire of Brazil ... More face off during the UFC 318 press conference at Smoothie King Center on July 17, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Dan Ige (19-9) earned a UFC contract during Season 3 of Dana White's Contender Series, which took place in 2017.
Ige opened his UFC career with a decision loss to Julio Arce in early 2018. He put that loss behind him and went unbeaten in his next six outings. That stretch of victories secured him the No. 10 spot in the official UFC featherweight rankings, and a UFC Fight Night main event matchup against the No. 6 ranked Calvin Kattar in July 2020. Kattar won that scrap via unanimous decision.
Since facing Kattar, Ige is 5-6 in the UFC. He has faced tough competition during that stretch and proven to be a game competitor. Ige raised his profile in 2024 when he agreed to meet Diego Lopes on the UFC 303 pay-per-view card on a few hour's notice. While Ige lost to Lopes in that fight, which served as the PPV co-main event, he took the rising Lopes the distance in an entertaining battle.
Ige followed his loss to Lopes with a decision setback to Lerone Murphy at UFC 308. He is coming off a third-round knockout win over Sean Woodson at UFC 314.
Freire (36-7) spent the bulk of his career under the Bellator banner. He made his promotional debut on the Bellator 15 card in April 2010. Freire first fought for the Bellator featherweight belt in 2013, losing by decision to Pat Curran. He got his revenge on Curran in September 2014, winning the belt via decision.
Freire defended his title twice before dropping a decision to Daniel Straus in November 2015. He regained the belt in 2017, submitting Straus via guillotine. Freire defended the title twice before adding the Bellator lightweight title to his trophy case.
Freire's May 2019 TKO win over Michael Chandler earned him the Bellator 155-pound belt.
Freire defended his featherweight crown three times as a two-division champ before losing a July 2021 submission to A.J. McKee. He never put the lightweight belt up for grabs, vacating the title in October 2021.
The featherweight crown returned to Freire's mantle in April 2022 when he defeated McKee via decision. Freire defended the belt twice in his third stint as the 145-pound champ. His most recent fight was a March 2024 TKO win over Jeremy Kennedy in a title defense.
Freire also dropped to bantamweight for a 2023 title shot against Sergio Pettis. Pettis won that contest via decision.
In December, Freire told MMA Junkie he wanted to be done with Bellator, which the PFL purchased in November 2023. He signed with the UFC as a free agent in February 2025.
Freire lost an uninspired unanimous decision to former interim UFC featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314.
UFC 318 Fight Card: Michael Johnson Vs. Daniel Zellhuber
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 17: (L-R) Opponents Michael Johnson and Daniel Zellhuber of Mexico ... More face off during the UFC 318 press conference at Smoothie King Center on July 17, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
Michael Johnson (23-19) is one of the longer-tenured fighters on the UFC roster. The 39-year-old has been with the promotion since 2010 when he lost to Jonathan Brookins in the finals of season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Johnson has had an active, if up-and-down UFC career. While always game, he has a history of inconsistency. Johnson's longest winning streaks with the UFC are a four-fight run between 2013 and 2015 and a three-fight unbeaten stretch in 2012.
Johnson went 0-4 between 2019 and 2021. He ended that run with a 2022 knockout win over Alan Patrick. Since then, Johnson is 3-2.
He enters UFC 318 on a two-fight winning streak, beating Darrius Flowers and Ottman Azaitar. He has not fought since he knocked out Azaitar in December, winning a 'Performance of the Night' bonus in the process.
Johnson is at the point in his career where the UFC is booking him as a gatekeeper against younger fighters or competitors who are relatively new to the promotion.
Daniel Zellhuber (15-2) might be coming off a loss to Esteban Ribovics at UFC 306, but that fight was in the running for 'Fight of the Year' in 2024, and earned Zellhuber his third straight UFC Fight Night bonus. Zellhuber might have lost some momentum in that fight, but he did not lose much stock. He is looking for a bounce-back performance at UFC 318.
Zellhuber moved his professional record to 12-0 in September 2021 when he defeated Lucas Almeida to earn a UFC contract on a Dana White's Contender Series card.
UFC CEO Dana White praised both men for their performance that night, but offered the contract to Zellhuber, saying, "First of all, he's got an incredible chin, well-rounded game. He's only 22 years old, which usually I look for people who are a couple of years older, but he's 12-0 at 22 years old. You never see that.
'He said something about fighting like a real Mexican. This dude fights like a real Mexican. He's awesome. I love everything about him.'
Zellhuber dropped his UFC debut, losing a decision to Trey Ogden by decision. He rebounded from that defeat with three straight wins before falling to Ribovics.
Stay tuned for more coverage from the UFC 318 fight card. Including live UFC 318 results, reactions, recaps and video highlights during tonight's event.