Louisiana native Dustin Poirier will get to fight one last time in the Octagon and this time it will be back in the Bayou State. Poirier will take on Max Holloway for the UFC BMF title Saturday night in the headline fight of UFC 318 in the Smoothie King Center.UFC 318 features five main card fights and 14 overall fights as the combat sport makes its return to New Orleans for the first time since 2015.Poirier (30-9), a native of Lafayette, announced in April that his fight against Holloway (26-8) will be the last of his career and he plans to retire after the match.“It’s a little surreal,” Poirier said. “All the pressure and obligations are still there and still thinking about all the fight stuff in my head. Every now and then though, it starts creeping into the back of my head that this is the last time I’m doing this.“I don’t come from a place with silver spoons and a lot of money. All the fights that I have had all over the world, a lot of people don’t get to go. To be so close to home (for this final fight) where people can hop in their car and drive to New Orleans, to have people see me fight for this last fight that have never seen me fight in person before is super special.”The Holloway-Poirier main event will be the third time the two lightweights have faced off. Poirier won the first two fights, submitting Holloway in the first round in 2012 and winning a unanimous decision back in 2019.“I’m expecting another war,” Poirier said. “This is a trilogy spanning 13 years. Each fight has been so different. Max is a legend and has done incredible things in his career. Fighting him for my last fight seems poetic. I was his debut in the UFC and he is my last fight. Everything is happening at the right time.”The 36-year-old Poirier said he heads into the fight in arguably the best shape of his career.“I’m 90-something days completely sober; no alcohol and no marijuana,” he said. “For probably four, five months I have been eating kind of like a carnivore with just meat and berries and a little bit of vegetables here and there. I’m in the best shape, this is the lightest I have ever shown up to fight week. I did everything right.”Despite fighting in front of the home state crowd and having defeated Holloway in their previous two matchups, Poirier enters the fight as a +110 underdog, according to BetMGM.Holloway, who is looking to rebound from a first-round knockout loss to Ilia Topuria last October, is defending his BMF title belt for the first time.“We both know what’s at stake,” Holloway said. “I’m here to play spoiler in this fight.“I was 4-0 the first time I fought him and I was on a 13-fight winning streak the second time I fought him. He did me dirty, so I guess I got to do him dirty in his retirement fight. I can’t wait to go out there Saturday night and show everyone what we have been working on.”Louisiana legislators to spend $7 million to bring LIV Golf tournament to New OrleansThe Louisiana legislature will spend $7 million to help bring LIV Golf tournament to New Orleans.This comes after WDSU broke the news that the LIV Golf League is close to making a deal to come to New Orleans. Sources confirm to WDSU that the Saudi-backed rival of the PGA Tour is in the final stages with state leaders to bring a tournament to Bayou Oaks at City Park in summer 2026.Sources tell WDSU the LIV League is working on committing to New Orleans on a multiyear contract, possibly ensuring tournaments are played in the city for three years.The first could be played as soon as June 2026.According to Senate President Cameron Henry, $2 million would be used to upgrade the Bayou Oaks golf course, and $5 million would be given to LIV Golf League as a hosting fee.The funding was inserted into a bill during a Senate hearing Sunday, essentially clearing the way for the event.Henry told WDSU that the event could generate $60 million in revenue for New Orleans.The name “LIV” refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events.LIV is a rival league to the PGA Tour and is funded by a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that has tried to reinvent the structure of professional golf with 48-man fields, no mid-tournament cuts and up to $25 million in prize money. There is also a team component. The league is run by Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star who tried nearly 30 years ago to create a world tour. LIV Golf lured away 13 former major champions, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who were then suspended by the PGA Tour.The kingdom has been investing in sports and entertainment in recent years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative called “Vision 2030” to diversify and reduce its dependence on oil. Golf was a natural fit.It has led to accusations of “sports washing,” an attempt to use sports investments to gloss over human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA says occurred on the orders of bin Salman.In June 2023, the PGA Tour dropped its fight with LIV Golf and instead announced a merger aimed at creating a global operation featuring the world’s top players, backed by the Saudis’ massive wealth.While a merger between the two leagues is not complete, President Donald Trump, who has supported LIV since it began, recently met with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in hopes of getting a deal done.Last year, the LIV golf league explored a tournament in New Orleans that would have coincided with Super Bowl LIX in the city, multiple sources confirm to WDSU.In February 2024, LIV Golf hosted its first-ever event in Las Vegas to coincide with Super Bowl LVIII, which was being played in Sin City.While that event never materialized, sources tell WDSU that representatives from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’s office traveled to the LIV event in Nashville last year and continued communication with league leaders. The 2024 Zurich Classic was the most successful in tournament history, setting records for attendance and resulting in more than $3 million being donated to various children’s charities throughout the metro area.Sources tell WDSU the addition of LIV in New Orleans should not be considered a rival to the PGA’s Zurich Classic but an enhancement aimed at making New Orleans an even bigger player when it comes to hosting major sports events. NHL meets with group interested in bringing expansion team to New OrleansCould New Orleans land an NHL expansion team?NHL reporter Kevin Weekes reports, per a conversation he had with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, that a group interested in bringing an expansion team to New Orleans, recently met in New York City with league executives.New Orleans played host to minor league hockey from 1997-2002 when the New Orleans Brass called the city home. The Brass originally played in the Municipal Auditorium and then in the New Orleans Arena (now Smoothie King Center).Talk of NHL expansion started last summer when businessman Nic Perkin discussed the topic at a press conference while announcing minor league hockey was returning to Monroe.”If Las Vegas can stand up a championship hockey team in the middle of desert, New Orleans can stand up one in the middle of the bayou.” Perkin said.This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.According to a report from The Illuminator, in response Perkin’s comments, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said, “I think New Orleans is one of those cities that is poised to be the place where sports happens.”He added, “We would talk to the NHL. We would talk to anybody that wants to bring anything there.”“Certainly, if there’s an appetite for them to come to New Orleans, we’re interested in having one,” the governor said.New Orleans is host to NFL and NBA teams with the Saints and Pelicans.Until Weekes report, NHL expansion rumors had been focused on Atlanta, Houston, and Quebec City.

NEW ORLEANS —

Louisiana native Dustin Poirier will get to fight one last time in the Octagon and this time it will be back in the Bayou State.

Poirier will take on Max Holloway for the UFC BMF title Saturday night in the headline fight of UFC 318 in the Smoothie King Center.

UFC 318 features five main card fights and 14 overall fights as the combat sport makes its return to New Orleans for the first time since 2015.

Poirier (30-9), a native of Lafayette, announced in April that his fight against Holloway (26-8) will be the last of his career and he plans to retire after the match.

“It’s a little surreal,” Poirier said. “All the pressure and obligations are still there and still thinking about all the fight stuff in my head. Every now and then though, it starts creeping into the back of my head that this is the last time I’m doing this.

“I don’t come from a place with silver spoons and a lot of money. All the fights that I have had all over the world, a lot of people don’t get to go. To be so close to home (for this final fight) where people can hop in their car and drive to New Orleans, to have people see me fight for this last fight that have never seen me fight in person before is super special.”

The Holloway-Poirier main event will be the third time the two lightweights have faced off. Poirier won the first two fights, submitting Holloway in the first round in 2012 and winning a unanimous decision back in 2019.

“I’m expecting another war,” Poirier said. “This is a trilogy spanning 13 years. Each fight has been so different. Max is a legend and has done incredible things in his career. Fighting him for my last fight seems poetic. I was his debut in the UFC and he is my last fight. Everything is happening at the right time.”

The 36-year-old Poirier said he heads into the fight in arguably the best shape of his career.

“I’m 90-something days completely sober; no alcohol and no marijuana,” he said. “For probably four, five months I have been eating kind of like a carnivore with just meat and berries and a little bit of vegetables here and there. I’m in the best shape, this is the lightest I have ever shown up to fight week. I did everything right.”

Despite fighting in front of the home state crowd and having defeated Holloway in their previous two matchups, Poirier enters the fight as a +110 underdog, according to BetMGM.

Holloway, who is looking to rebound from a first-round knockout loss to Ilia Topuria last October, is defending his BMF title belt for the first time.

“We both know what’s at stake,” Holloway said. “I’m here to play spoiler in this fight.

“I was 4-0 the first time I fought him and I was on a 13-fight winning streak the second time I fought him. He did me dirty, so I guess I got to do him dirty in his retirement fight. I can’t wait to go out there Saturday night and show everyone what we have been working on.”

The Louisiana legislature will spend $7 million to help bring LIV Golf tournament to New Orleans.

This comes after WDSU broke the news that the LIV Golf League is close to making a deal to come to New Orleans.

Sources confirm to WDSU that the Saudi-backed rival of the PGA Tour is in the final stages with state leaders to bring a tournament to Bayou Oaks at City Park in summer 2026.

Sources tell WDSU the LIV League is working on committing to New Orleans on a multiyear contract, possibly ensuring tournaments are played in the city for three years.

The first could be played as soon as June 2026.

According to Senate President Cameron Henry, $2 million would be used to upgrade the Bayou Oaks golf course, and $5 million would be given to LIV Golf League as a hosting fee.

The funding was inserted into a bill during a Senate hearing Sunday, essentially clearing the way for the event.

Henry told WDSU that the event could generate $60 million in revenue for New Orleans.

The name “LIV” refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events.

LIV is a rival league to the PGA Tour and is funded by a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund that has tried to reinvent the structure of professional golf with 48-man fields, no mid-tournament cuts and up to $25 million in prize money. There is also a team component. The league is run by Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star who tried nearly 30 years ago to create a world tour. LIV Golf lured away 13 former major champions, including Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who were then suspended by the PGA Tour.

The kingdom has been investing in sports and entertainment in recent years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s initiative called “Vision 2030” to diversify and reduce its dependence on oil. Golf was a natural fit.

It has led to accusations of “sports washing,” an attempt to use sports investments to gloss over human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA says occurred on the orders of bin Salman.

In June 2023, the PGA Tour dropped its fight with LIV Golf and instead announced a merger aimed at creating a global operation featuring the world’s top players, backed by the Saudis’ massive wealth.

While a merger between the two leagues is not complete, President Donald Trump, who has supported LIV since it began, recently met with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in hopes of getting a deal done.

Last year, the LIV golf league explored a tournament in New Orleans that would have coincided with Super Bowl LIX in the city, multiple sources confirm to WDSU.

In February 2024, LIV Golf hosted its first-ever event in Las Vegas to coincide with Super Bowl LVIII, which was being played in Sin City.

While that event never materialized, sources tell WDSU that representatives from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’s office traveled to the LIV event in Nashville last year and continued communication with league leaders.

The 2024 Zurich Classic was the most successful in tournament history, setting records for attendance and resulting in more than $3 million being donated to various children’s charities throughout the metro area.

Sources tell WDSU the addition of LIV in New Orleans should not be considered a rival to the PGA’s Zurich Classic but an enhancement aimed at making New Orleans an even bigger player when it comes to hosting major sports events.

Could New Orleans land an NHL expansion team?

NHL reporter Kevin Weekes reports, per a conversation he had with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, that a group interested in bringing an expansion team to New Orleans, recently met in New York City with league executives.

New Orleans played host to minor league hockey from 1997-2002 when the New Orleans Brass called the city home. The Brass originally played in the Municipal Auditorium and then in the New Orleans Arena (now Smoothie King Center).

Talk of NHL expansion started last summer when businessman Nic Perkin discussed the topic at a press conference while announcing minor league hockey was returning to Monroe.

“If Las Vegas can stand up a championship hockey team in the middle of desert, New Orleans can stand up one in the middle of the bayou.” Perkin said.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

According to a report from The Illuminator, in response Perkin’s comments, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said, “I think New Orleans is one of those cities that is poised to be the place where sports happens.”

He added, “We would talk to the NHL. We would talk to anybody that wants to bring anything there.”

“Certainly, if there’s an appetite for them to come to New Orleans, we’re interested in having one,” the governor said.

New Orleans is host to NFL and NBA teams with the Saints and Pelicans.

Until Weekes report, NHL expansion rumors had been focused on Atlanta, Houston, and Quebec City.