Sean Strickland celebrates after beating Israel Adesanya. UFC 293, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park Australia, Sunday 10th September 2023. Copyright Photo: David Neilson / www.photosport.nz Photo: Photosport
The pound for pound best fighter on the planet returns to the octagon this weekend to put his lightweight title on the line while two fan favourites will go to war at middleweight in the co-main event.
UFC 302 is headlined by reigning lightweight king Islam Makhachev against perennial contender Dustin the Diamond Poirier.
The Russian is riding a 13-fight unbeaten streak, most recently earning top spot in the P4P rankings with back to back wins over Alexander the Great Volkanovski.
After a highly competitive and controversial first fight, Makhachev put all doubt to rest with an emphatic first round head kick knockout in the sequel scrap in October.
Poirier, on the other hand, bounced back from his loss for the BMF title with Justin Gaethje by making quick work of Benoît Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March.
The main event has some serious heat behind it as the pair engaged in a tense exchange at Friday's press conference.
The two lightweights very nearly came to blows on stage after Poirier swore at Mackachev.
The fight will pit Poirier's pristine boxing against Makhachev's elite grappling.
Poirier has also fought Makhachev's mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title in 2019, but came up short against the Eagle.
A match-up with strong title implications takes place at middleweight with the controversial Sean Strickland taking on Brazilian powerhouse Paulo Costa.
After shocking the world and dethroning Israel Adesanya, Strickland dropped his title in his first defence against Dricus Du Plessis, a fight many MMA media outlets gave to Strickland.
'Tarzan' will look to swing back into the picture with a win over Costa, who was beaten by Robert Whittaker back in February by unanimous decision.
Both men have promised fireworks for their five round bout.
Also on the card, Kevin 'Big Mouth' Holland meets Michal Oleksiejczuk at 185lbs, Holland looking to regain momentum after losing to the debuting the Michael 'Venom' Page at UFC 299.
Oleksiejczuk conversely has gone 3-2 since switching to middleweight, suffering recent losses to Caio Borralho and Michel Pereira.
RNZ will liveblog all the action from 2pm on Sunday afternoon.
UFC 302 Main Card:
Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier
Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa
Kevin Holland vs Michal Oleksiejczuk
Jailton Almeida vs Alexandr Romanov
Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Prelims:
Cesar Almeida vs Roman Kopylov
Grant Dawson vs Joe Solecki
Phil Rowe vs Jake Matthews
Niko Price vs Alex Morono
Mickey Gall vs Bassil Hafez
Ailin Perez vs Joselyne Edwards
Andre Lima vs Mitch Raposo
