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

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.

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.

"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.

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.

UFC 318 returns to New Orleans this weekend with a 14-bout card headlined by an anticipated trilogy match between fan favourites Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway.

The fatal mistake wasn't nerves or jitters, no. It was quite the opposite. Freire (36-8 MMA, 0-1 UFC) said his UFC 314 loss to Yair Rodriguez was the result of being too calm.