UFC 318 goes down on Saturday from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. In the main event, Louisiana legend Dustin Poirier will take a second crack at the symbolic BMF title when he faces Max Holloway.

"The Italian Dream" takes on bitter rival Brendan Allen on the preliminary card of Saturday's UFC pay-per-view event at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) and Allen (24-7 MMA, 12-4 UFC) have plenty of history, more infamously getting into a brawl on the casino floor of the Hard Rock Hotel in South Florida.

During his media day interviews on UFC 318 fight week, Dustin Poirier confirmed that the dream scenario that he pitched for his final walk out is set to happen on Saturday night. Anyone who has been watching ‘The Diamond’ for some time knows that his walk out song of choice is the iconic James Brown track, ‘The Boss’.

New Orleans will host the first event in the US outside of its regular Las Vegas residence as Power Slap 14: The Bell vs Mena will take place at the Xavier University Convocation Center this Friday.

New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks celebrates his birthday on Saturday, July 19, with a show at Gasa Gasa. He’ll be joined by La Reezy, who recently has been catching some national attention, and gifted lyricist Kaye the Beast. Music starts at 9 p.m., and tickets are $19.29 via gasagasanola.com.

NEW ORLEANS – Paulo Costa has seen better days, but Roman Kopylov still considers him to be at elite level.

UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik will be Octagon-side this weekend to call the BMF title fight, which features a trilogy between Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier