UFC 302 Gets Makhachev vs. Poirier, Strickland vs. Poirier

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – UFC 302 has its main and co-main event.

After the legendary UFC 300 card, which took place last night inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC CEO Dana White announced that UFC 302 will be headlined by Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier. In addition, Sean Strickland will fight Paulo Costa in a five-round co-main event.

Makhachev (25-1) will look to defend his Lightweight championship for the third time, finally against someone other than Alexander Volkanovski. The 32-year-old Russian fighter is riding a 13-fight win streak, and six of his last seven fights have been finishes.

Poirier (30-8) will fight for a UFC title for the final time (most likely) after failing twice before. “The Diamond” is coming off a knockout win at UFC 299 over Benoit Saint-Denis that earned him the title shot.

Does this fight make sense? No. However, Makhachev wants to fight, so he’s fighting.

Strickland (28-6) is coming off a split decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis in which he lost his Middleweight championship and will be looking to earn a rematch.

Costa (14-3) is also coming off a loss. At UFC 298, he lost a unanimous decision to former Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, making him 1-3 in his last four fights.

The rest of the card looks like this:

• Middleweight: Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez
• Women’s Bantamweight: Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards
• Lightweight: Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki
• Welterweight: Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews
• Welterweight: Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez
• Flyweight: Park Hyun-sung vs. Andre Lima
• Flyweight: Su Mudaerji vs. Joshua Van
• Heavyweight: Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov
• Welterweight: Niko Price vs. Jeremiah Wells

UFC brought a PPV to Newark, New Jersey, with UFC 288 last year (May 6, 2024), where then-bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defended his 135-pound title against Henry Cejudo in the main event.

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