Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier, Sean Strickland’s return set for UFC 302

Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier in the new main event just announced for UFC 302, which takes place in Newark, N.J. on June 1.

The co-main event pits former middleweight champion Sean Strickland against Paulo Costa. Both fights were announced at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference by UFC CEO Dana White.

There have been rumors swirling for weeks that Makhachev would return sooner rather than later and Poirier appeared to be the leading contender to land the title shot after he demolished Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March.

A former interim lightweight champion, Poirier came up short in his previous two attempts at winning the undisputed title with losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira. He’ll try a third time going up against one of the most dominant champions on the current UFC roster.

Makhachev has only tasted defeat once in his entire career and he’s currently riding a 13-fight win streak including two successful defenses of his lightweight title. Most recently, Makhachev knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in a rematch following a Fight of the Year in their first encounter this past February.

Now Makhachev seeks a third title defense when he clashes with Poirier in a five-round title fight to cap off UFC 302 in June.

As for the co-main event, Strickland competes for the first time since dropping his middleweight title in a razor-close decision to Dricus du Plessis. As for Costa, he’s also attempting to get back in the win column following a back-and-forth battle with Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February.