Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier is the headlining bout for UFC 302. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, the promotion’s consensus top pound-for-pound fighter, is defending his belt against fan favorite Dustin Poirier at UFC 302.
Poirier is hoping the third time around will be magic. He has fought for the belt twice before, losing by submission to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019 and rear-naked choke to Charles Oliveira in 2021. Since his most recent title shot, he has beaten Michael Chandler, lost to Justin Gaethje in the “BMF” fight and defeated rising star Benoit St. Denis to remain in the division’s elite ranks.
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Makhachev has shown himself to be on another level so far, although his only two title defenses have come against Alexander Volkanovski. The Russian won the vacant title at UFC 280 against Oliveira, who was then the de facto champion, and was scheduled to face him again at UFC 294, but the Brazilian withdrew due to injury, forcing Volkanovski to step in at short notice and pay the price.
Makhachev is the favorite to retain the belt and will be accompanied by his mentor Nurmagomedov at the Prudential Center in Newark. However, Poirier has been an underdog before, and you never know what will happen in a title fight.
Follow all the action on Yahoo Sports via our live blog below, where we’ll share the latest results and highlights from the entire card.
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Round 1: Kopylov’s strikes are powerful and he’s also very good at wrestling, which is causing Almeida some trouble. The biggest shot of the round is a straight left that drops Almeida.
Kopylov drops Almeida with a straight left hand! Beautiful shot, but he’s not trying to put him on the ground and let him get back up.
Another bout up on the pay-per-view main card: Cesar Almeida (+115) vs. Roman Kopylov (-105) at middleweight.
Almeida says he wants to see former champion Ciryl Gane next in Paris. Sign us up!
Result: Jelton Almeida defeated Alexander Romanov by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:22 of Round 1
Almeida wastes no time in getting the submission finish after attacking Romanov’s back!
Almeida knocked out Romanov in less than 15 seconds of the bout, eliciting groans from the crowd.
Four fights, four decisions so far tonight in Newark, New Jersey. Is this a sign of things to come? Probably not, as we will now get to see a heavyweight bout with Jelton Almeida (-275) taking on Alexander Romanov (+210), which was originally scheduled to take place on the main card.
Result: Grant Dawson defeated Joe Solecki via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
This was definitely a fight we’ll never look back on, but Grant Dawson needed the win more than anyone on this entire card, and he got it.
Thirty seconds into Round 3, Dawson is once again controlling Solecki from the top.
Round 2: Dawson once again takes top control and tries his best to get Solecki to the finish, but it never comes.
Round 1: It was all in Dawson’s hands after Solecki lost position on a guillotine attempt. Dawson landed a flurry of punches for most of the round and left Solecki bloodied.
Solecki looked to end the fight early with a guillotine, but Dawson executed it well and gained control from the top.
Next up is a bout between Grant Dawson (-400) and Joe Solecki (+310).
Result: Jake Matthews beat Phil Rowe via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
ufc 302mAnn Card (Start time 10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV)
All odds via BetMGM.
UFC 302 prelims, odds (start time 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+)
UFC 302 early prelims, odds (start time 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass)
