The next pay-per-view event on the UFC schedule, UFC 302, takes place on June 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The promotion has locked in the main card fights for the upcoming fight card.
In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev puts his title on the line for the third time when he faces Dustin Poirier.
Makhachev (25-1) won the vacant lightweight title in October 2022 with a submission win over former champion Charles Oliveira. Since that victory, Makhachev has defended his crown twice, beating UFC then-UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski by decision in February 2023 and then knocking out Volkanovski in October.
Poirier (30-8-0-1) is a former interim UFC lightweight champ. In his two previous attempts to win the undisputed 155-pound title, Poirier has come up short. In 2019, Makhachev’s mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, submitted Poirier in the third round of their UFC 242 matchup. Then, at UFC 269, Oliveira submitted Poirier in the third stanza of their title fight. Poirier is coming off a March knockout win over Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299. Poirier is the No. 4 ranked fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings.
The co-main event of UFC 302 sees former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland facing ex-UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa.
Strickland (28-6) won the 185-pound crown in September 2023 with an upset decision win over Israel Adesanya. He lost the title in his first attempted defense when Dricus du Plessis defeated him via split decision at UFC 297. Strickland has not fought since that January setback. The ex-champ is the No. 1 ranked UFC middleweight.
Costa (14-3) is coming off a stellar performance against another former UFC middleweight champion. Costa lost that fight, dropping a decision to Robert Whittaker in February. The loss was Costa’s first fight since he defeated ex-UFC middleweight kingpin Luke Rockhold in August 2022. Costa is the No. 7 ranked UFC 185-pounder.
Also on the UFC 302 main card:
Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov at heavyweight
Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov at middleweight
Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at welterweight
UFC 302 marks the first fight card at Prudential Center in Newark since UFC 288, which took place in May 2023.
The UFC 302 PPV card streams on ESPN+.
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