UFC 318 fight week is here! Saturday night, right after PFL Champions Series 2 wraps up in Cape Town, South Africa, the MMA scene shifts back to the United States of America for an anticipated farewell.
Win, lose, or draw, the UFC 318 main event will serve as the final appearance in the sport for Dustin Poirier as a competitor. This weekend’s headliner sees Poirier make the walk one last time, flanked by rap star Lil Wayne, before the former’s contest against Max Holloway in a trilogy bout for the BMF Championship.
Smoothie King Center, the home venue for the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, serves as the setting for the second of three UFC events this month. Live coverage of the show begins with the early prelims at 6:15 pm ET/ 3:15 pm PT.
Inside the United States of America, you can see this portion of the show on both UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+. Late prelims follow at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT on ESPN and ESPN+ before a five-fight main card caps the evening at 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT, for a total schedule of 13 fights.
UFC 318 Featured Prelim: No. 12 Contender Kyler Phillips vs. No. 15 Contender Vinicius Oliveira
Bantamweights take to the fabled Octagon in the featured prelim when No. 12 contender Kyler Phillips (12-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) takes on 15th-ranked Vinicius Oliveira (22-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC.) All fights mentioned herein are an advertised length of three rounds at five minutes per round.
Phillips enters the UFC 318 featured prelim with a record of 3-2 in his last five appearances. At the moment, he’s looking to get back in the win column this coming Saturday.
Nine months ago, he was on the losing end of a unanimous decision against Rob Font (22-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC.) He’s had a long time to stew over what happened that night and time to correct what went wrong. Kyler Phillips’ opponent is no slouch when the cage door shuts, however.
Across the way, Vinicius Oliveira has posted a perfect record of 5-0 in his last five fights dating back to his days in UAE Warriors. On Feb. 1, he trekked to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a unanimous decision victory over Said Nurmagomedov (18-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC.)
This win resulted in Oliveira scoring the Fight and Performance of the Night bonuses. While this is only going to be his fourth fight under the UFC promotional banner, a competitor is often at his most dangerous when he’s on a hot streak. Can he get his sixth win in a row in UFC 318?
UFC 318 Co-Featured Prelim: No. 10 Contender Marvin Vettori vs. No. 11 Contender Brendan Allen
Immediately beforehand, the co-featured prelim takes place at 185 lbs. No. 10 contender Marvin Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) meets No. 11 contender Brendan Allen (24-7 MMA, 12-4 UFC.)
Vettori will be making the walk this weekend sporting a record of 2-3 in his last five MMA fights. He’s on a two-fight losing streak, dropping a unanimous decision to Roman Dolidze (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) back in March at UFC London.
That March 15 fight in London was his first in MMA since June of 2023. Can he get back to victory lane in UFC 318?
Meanwhile, Brendan Allen has posted a mark of 2-3 himself over the course of the last five fights. He’s a streaky fighter of late, having lost two contests after getting his hand raised seven times in a row.
Back in February of this year, he was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision versus Anthony Hernandez (14-2, 1 NC MMA, 8-2 UFC) in Seattle. A week later, he was defeated (unanimous decision) in a grappling match at Karate Combat 53 against Caio Borralho.
Only time will tell if Allen reclaims his spark on Saturday night.
UFC 318: Francisco Prado vs. Nikolay Vertennikov
Also on the UFC 318 undercard, welterweights take to the cage for a battle between Francisco Prado (12-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) and Nikolay Vertennikov (12-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC.) The former comes in with a record of 2-3 in his last five contests.
As of this writing, he’s tasted defeat twice in a row. On Feb. 8 during UFC 312, he was defeated by Jake Matthews (22-7 MMA, 15-7 UFC) via unanimous decision. Matthews stayed in the win column with a first-round submission by rear-naked choke versus Chidi Njokuani (25-11, 1 NC MMA, 5-4 UFC.)
To quote the rock band Three Days Grace, “Misery loves my company.” Prado’s adversary finds himself in a similar predicament going into UFC 318.
In the other corner, Nikolay Vertennikov has gone 3-2 over the last five fights. Since joining the UFC’s active roster in August of last year, he’s had bad luck inside the cage. During the Feb. 22 UFC Fight Night card in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena, he faced Austin Vanderford (13-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the latter’s UFC promotional debut, losing by second-round TKO (ground and pound shots.)
Will the third time be the charm for Vertennikov? Tune into the UFC 318 prelims and find out.
Final Thoughts
Which fight or fights are you looking forward to on UFC 318? Let us know in the comments.
