50 MMA Fights You Must Watch Before You Die

If Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum (we'll get to that later) hadn't already fought, there's no doubt that this fight would be the front runner for fight of the year. When you've got two world class fighters, competing against each other to earn the right to face the Khabib Nurmagomedov for the 155lb title, it's bound to be a fascinating watch.

Holloway and Poirier certainly managed to make sure their scrap lived up to the lofty expectations fans had, as the two engaged in a technical yet extremely violent war. Both men had their positives, with Holloway throwing and landing 208 strikes during their five round fight and Poirier landing 46% of his significant strikes.

However, the real key to the victory was the difference in power between the two fighters. Whenever Poirier would throw a punch, it would send Holloway a few steps back due to the sheer force, whereas Holloway's strikes lacked the same power. While the UFC 145lb champion was never out of the fight, his inability to match Poirier's power punches is what really swung the fight in the favour of the Louisianan.