The Octagon returns to New Jersey for tonight’s UFC 302 event, a twelve-bout fight card headlined by Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier.
Makhachev (25-1 MMA) will be returning to action for the first time since scoring a nasty knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski at October’s UFC 294 event in Abu Dhabi. The victory marked the Dagestani’s thirteenth in a row and second defense of the lightweight title.
Meanwhile, Dustin Poirier (30-8 MMA) was last seen in action at March’s UFC 299 event, where he scored a sensational second-round knockout victory over Benoit Saint Denis. That win was of course preceded by a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in a fight for the BMF title at UFC 291.
UFC 302 is co-headlined by a key middleweight bout between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa.
Strickland (28-6 MMA) will enter the contest looking to rebound, this after suffering a split decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 to surrender the promotion‘s middleweight title. Prior to that setback, ‘Tarzan’ was on a three-fight winning streak which included a lopsided decision win over Israel Adesanya.
Meanwhile, Paulo Costa (14-3 MMA) was last seen in action at UFC 298, where he dropped a decision to former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Prior to that, the Brazilian knockout artist was coming off a win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 278.
Get all of tonight’s live results and highlights below (refresh for updates):
UFC 302 Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET)
Islam Makhachev (155) (c) vs. Dustin Poirier (155) –
Sean Strickland (185) vs. Paulo Costa (185) –
Kevin Holland (185) vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk (185) –
Niko Price (170) vs. Alex Morono (170) –
Randy Brown (170) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (170) –
UFC 302 Prelims (ESPN2/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
Roman Kopylov (185) vs. César Almeida (185) –
Jailton Almeida (241) vs. Alexandr Romanov (265) –
Grant Dawson (155) vs. Joe Solecki (155) –
Phil Rowe (171) vs. Jake Matthews (170) –
UFC 302 Early Prelims (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Mickey Gall (170) vs. Bassil Hafez (170) –
Ailin Perez (135) vs. Joselyne Edwards (136) –
André Lima (130)* vs. Mitch Raposo (125) –
Who are you picking to win tonight’s UFC 302 main event between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier?
