UFC 302 delivered and so did the main event between the UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and the challenger Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier. At the end of it all, Makhachev ended up victorious after a back-and-forth battle with a 5th round D'arce Choke that put Dustin Poirier to sleep.
After the finish, Makhachev's hand was raised making it his third consecutive title defense which has him tied with his coach and longtime training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov and lightweight legend BJ Penn for the most title defenses in UFC lightweight history. As for how this fight went, this fight didn't go as easily as many thought it would've been for Makhachev. Poirier came into this fight showing that he put in the work to combat the grappling of Makhachev to its fullest extent even defending 11 of Makhachev's 16 takedown attempts.
After this fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Poirier knew he needed everything he could to be ready for the grappling of Makhachev and he did a fantastic job at defending the takedowns, submission attempts, and his ability to scramble back to his feet. However, Makhachev is a very different fighter than Nurmagomedov as he is much more technically sound on the feet and even gave Poirier some trouble in this matchup. Dustin Poirier still gave Makhachev the hardest fight as the UFC lightweight champion and fought tooth and nail to the very end until he eventually succumbed to a beautifully timed D'arce Choke in round 5 to retain his title.
Islam Makhachev is $100,000 richer with his title defense
Dana White announced he is one of three fighters getting bonuses for their performances on the night. Makhachev obtained a $50,000 performance bonus as well as a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus with his fight with Dustin Poirier. That gave Makhachev an extra $100,000 on top of his third successful title defense. That also means, that while Poirier wasn't successful in his second undisputed title bid, he did walk away with a $50,000 bonus as a consolation prize.
The other $50,000 bonus was given to Kevin Holland for his first-round armbar submission over Michal Oleksiejzcuk. Oleksiejczuk landed a vicious shot that sent Kevin Holland crashing to the canvas but Holland kept his composure and quickly transitioned to an armbar as Oleskiejczuk was raining down heavy ground and pound. Oleksiejczuk was too stubborn to tap from the submission that Holland had to eventually break his arm which resulted in the referee stepping in to call the fight via technical submission.
It remains to be seen what will be next for the UFC lightweight champion as Makhachev has talked about wanting to move up to become the next double champ but there is a challenger by the name of Arman Tsarukyan who's waiting in the wings for his crack at the title. Then there is Dustin Poirier who is still in limbo about his future and whether or not he will continue to fight but even if he doesn't he's a bonafide UFC Hall of Famer once his career is completely over.
This UFC 302 was a fantastic fight card from top to bottom with exciting fight after exciting fight and one that many will remember. Up next will be UFC 303 at International Fight Week with the return of “The Notorious” Conor McGregor against Michael Chandler. Stay tuned for more great fights coming up in this stacked month of June fights.
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