The Prudential Center, across the Hudson River from New York City in Newark, New Jersey, will host UFC 302 on Saturday, June 1. The headliner is a dandy of a matchup as Islam Makhachev will defend his UFC Lightweight Championship against former interim champ Dustin Poirier. Don’t sleep on the co-main event, as former UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland will fight former title challenger Paulo Costa. The main card will be available on pay-per-view, with the prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+ and the early prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass. Let’s take a quick look at the card and then consider the top two fights.
UFC Betting News: An Early Look at UFC 302 | MMA Event
To hear Dustin Poirier tell it, his shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship won’t end on the cards. Never mind that Islam Makhachev is rated #1 pound-for-pound in all of MMA. Never mind that Poirier is 0-for-2 in title fights after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira in prior shots at belts. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Poirier said, “I’m going to knock him unconscious and the ref is going to be pulling me off of him.”
Poirier hasn’t had a fight go the distance since 2020, so whether he wins or ends up on the short end, the victor will deliver a finish. Poirier has finished Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler, and Benoit Saint Denis since the last time one of his fights went to the cards. He talks a lot about the guillotine choke, and he has actually attempted several of them, but he has never won a fight with it. Even though there is a risk of ending up in a bad position, Poirier has a reputation for going for it – despite the warnings from coach Mike Brown.
Makhachev frequently draws comparisons to Nurmagomedov, who submitted Poirier five years ago. If you think about how similarly Makhachev and Nurmagomedov fight, it’s hard to argue that you should bet heavy on Poirier’s confidence.
In the co-main event, Strickland comes in as the favorite, and it’s his first fight since he lost his UFC Middleweight belt at UFC 297. He hasn’t been the clear favorite in a fight since 2022, when he beat Jack Hermansson. Costa is tough to knock out; the only fighter who has done it is Israel Adesanya, who delivered a devastating hook and then added more punishment from there. Strickland isn’t as quick as Adesanya, but there are other paths to victory for him.
Strickland’s fundamentals are elite. His defense is sound, and he keeps his feet beneath him, almost never kicking above the waist. The jab delivers constant, steady punishment, and with that balance, it’s hard to pus him out of position. His last loss came in 2022, when Alex Pereira goaded him with a series of feints and setups, but Strickland has gained wisdom since then. This is the type of smooth opponent that can give Costa fits, as we saw at UFC 298, when Robert Whittaker beat him unanimously on the cards.
If Costa is going to win, it will be via the big bomb. Strickland has been knocked out twice. There are usually a couple of moments in each Costa showdown where he gets his opponent on edge and then stacks on punishment. It’s possible that he does this against Strickland, but Strickland just seems too steady.
UFC Main Card at Pay Per View
- Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier (UFC Lightweight Championship)
- Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa (Middleweight)
- Kevin Holland vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (Middleweight)
- Jailton Almeida vs Alexander Romanov (Heavyweight)
- Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (Welterweight)
UFC Preliminary Card at ESPN2 / ESPN+
- Cesar Almeida vs Roman Kopylov (Middleweight)
- Grant Dawson vs Joe Solecki (Lightweight)
- Philip Rowe vs Jake Matthews (Welterweight)
- Niko Price vs Alex Morono (Welterweight)
UFC Early Preliminary Card at ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass
- Mickey Gall vs Bassil Hafez (Welterweight)
- Ailin Perez vs Joselyne Edwards (Women’s Bantamweight)
Get ready…. #UFC302 fight week is almost here ⏳
— UFC (@ufc) May 26, 2024
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