Islam
Makhachev’s next title defense will come against Dustin
Poirier in the UFC 302
main event.
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UFC CEO Dana White announced the booking during the UFC 300
post-fight press conference on Saturday night. UFC 302 takes place
at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on June 1. Meanwhile, a
five-round clash pitting Sean
Strickland against Paulo Costa
will serve as the evening’s middleweight co-headliner.
Makhachev will carry a 13-bout UFC winning streak into the matchup
with Poirier. The Dagestani standout last appeared at UFC 294,
where he scored a first-round knockout of ex-featherweight champ
Alexander
Volkanovski this past October.
This will mark Poirier’s third attempt at capturing undisputed
lightweight gold after falling to Khabib
Nurmagomedov in September 2019 and to Charles
Oliveira in December 2021. “The Diamond” is coming off a
second-round KO of Benoit St.
Denis at UFC 299 on March 9.
Strickland will be fighting for the first time since relinquishing
the middleweight crown to Dricus Du
Plessis in a split-decision defeat at UFC 297. Prior to that,
the Xtreme Couture member had won three straight bouts, claiming
the 185-pound belt with an upset of Israel
Adesanya at UFC 293.
Costa, meanwhile, has lost three of his last four UFC appearances.
In his last outing, “Borrachinha” gave a spirited effort in a
decision loss to Robert
Whittaker at UFC 298 on Feb. 17.