Max Holloway is bloodied but far from down in a lightweight title fight at UFC 318 in New Orleans on Saturday night. (AP photo)

NEW ORLEANS — Max Holloway said he wanted to play spoiler and he did it Saturday night in the main event.

Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier in a unanimous decision to retain the UFC BMF Championship in UFC 318 at the Smoothie King Center.

The win for Holloway is the first in three fights against Poirier, who beat him in 2012 and 2019.

Holloway (28-8) retained his BMF title after landing 98 more strikes (201-109) and landing 53% of his significant strikes.

Fighting against a partisan Louisiana crowd for the native son Poirier in his retirement match, Holloway was the quicker fighter for the entire match, knocking Poirier off his feet early in the first round.

In the second, another flurry of combinations put Poirier on the mat again, followed by two minutes of dominant grappling.

“I’m pretty happy,” Holloway said. Poirier can still hit hard, he said. “but he kept coming back and back. I came in and I knew I was going to try and be the spoiler and the villain.”

Poirier’s best chance came in the last 30 seconds of the second round, getting Holloway on the ground with a chokehold and several ground punches before the round ended.

The loss ends a brilliant career for Poirier, who finishes his career with a 30-10 record. Poirier, the UFC Lightweight Interim Champion in 2019, also defeated the likes of Connor McGregor twice in addition to victories over Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler.

“Obviously I wanted to win, but being inside the eye of the storm I thought the fight was a lot closer,” Poirier said. “I thought I had him out in the second round, we couldn’t hear the bell. The fight just felt a lot closer. It is what it is though.

“Going into the fifth round I thought it was close. I feel like I could have maybe put myself in harm’s way more. I could have taken more chances, but I didn’t want to take too many risks. I thought I fought smart. I tried to win.”

In the co-main event, Paulo Costa (15-4) snapped a three-match losing streak, defeating Roman Kopylov for a middleweight division win by a unanimous decision.

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