UFC 302: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier: Fight Card, Betting Odds, Start Time
All the fights for UFC 302: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier card on Saturday 1st June 2024. With betting odds, start time, date, fight card, and information on how to watch.
- Event: UFC 302: “Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier”
- Date: Sat, Jun. 1, 2024
- Location: Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, U.S.
- Broadcast: ESPN+ PPV, ESPN, ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET Prelims and 10 p.m. ET for the Main Card)
- Broadcast in the UK: TNT Sports with the Prelims starting at 11 p.m. GMT and the Main Card at 3 a.m. GMT )
Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier Full fight card
Main Card
- Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier: Lightweight Title Fight
- Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa: Middleweight
- Niko Price vs. Alex Morono: Welterweight
- Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez: Middleweight
- Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov: Heavyweight
- Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos: Welterweight
Prelims
- Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez: Welterweight
- Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews: Welterweight
- Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki: Lightweight
- HyunSung Park vs. Andre Lima: Flyweight
- Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov: Middleweight
Early Prelims
- Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards: Women’s Bantamweight
- Sumudaerji vs. Joshua Van: Flyweight
*Fight card, bout order, and number of fights are subject to change
Tale of the Tape
| Name: | Islam Makhachev | Dustin Poirier |
| Country: | Dagestan, Russia | United States |
| Age: | 32 | 35 |
| Height: | 5′ 10″/177.80 cm | 5′ 9″/175.26 cm |
| Weight: | 155 lbs | 155 lbs |
| Reach: | 70 Inches | 72 Inches |
Start date and time
UFC 302: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier takes place on April 13th, at the Prudential Center, Newark, NJ. The main card will start at 10 p.m. ET. The event starts with the early preliminary card that will begin at 6 p.m. ET, with the regular prelims starting at 8 p.m. ET. In the UK, the main event starts at 3 a.m. GMT with the Prelims starting at 11 p.m. GMT.
Betting Odds
MMA’s premier promotion will return to Newark, New Jersey for UFC 302 on Saturday night.
Lucky fans in attendance at the Prudential Center will get to watch a stacked card of fights that is topped by a lightweight title clash between two massive stars.
In the main event, Islam Makhachev puts his 155lb belt on the line in a highly anticipated fight against former interim champion Dustin Poirier.
Before that, ex-middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland looks to earn another crack at gold by beating top contender Paulo Costa in the co-main event.
Join LowKickMMA as we preview and predict these two massive fights and provide you with UFC odds for every bout on the main card this weekend.
Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier
Islam Makhachev is a massive -500 favourite heading into his latest title defence and there’s several very reasonable explanations for that.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé is simply the best lightweight on the planet and has been able to make it look easy against world class fighters such as Alexander Volkanovski and Charles Oliveira.
However, he’s such a heavy favourite that he’s not really worth betting on unless you’re willing to make a bold prediction by calling the round or method he ends the UFC 302 main event.
We’ll be backing him to win by submission at odds of +120 but understand some people might fancy Poirier chances as a +350 underdog because he can bang and Makhachev has been knocked out before.
Still, we think he’s got a very tough task ahead of him this weekend.
Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa
Strickland’s journey back to the UFC middleweight title starts with a tough fight with Costa, but it’s one we expect to emerge from victoriously.
The -200 favourite is a stylistic nightmare for Costa. Strickland relentless output and fighting pace is likely to take its toll on ‘Borrachinha’ as the rounds progress.
Costa’s muscle-bound physique makes him an explosive KO risk to Strickland, who certainly could fall to an upset loss against the slight +163 underdog.
However, we expect the recently usurped former champion to survive an early onslaught from the Brazilian and ultimately make him gas out with his relentless output.
Costa could wilt in the championship rounds, but he is just as likely to tough it out for the full 25 minutes. Either way, we think Strickland will be the fighter getting his hand raised when it’s all said and done.
Kevin Holland vs Michal Oleksiejczuk
Holland’s recent record doesn’t do him justice. The big-mouthed American may have lost four of his last six bouts, but he’s been mixing it with the very best.
It’s nice to see him get a step down in opposition and be a significant -250 favourite at UFC 302.
Oleksiejczuk is a decent fighter, but five of his seven losses have come via submission and his next opponent is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist with a black belt.
It makes sense that the Polish MMA veteran is priced at +188 to get the win.
We don’t think he will. Holland will most likely overwhelm him on the feet early before forcing to the fight to the ground and taking him out with ground strikes or a submission.
Jailton Almeida vs Alexander Romanov
Almeida should feel no shame about his last loss as Curtis Blaydes is a top-level heavyweight and could very well become a champion at UFC 304 on July 27.
‘Malhadinho’ is the -275 favourite and we are backing him to get the win.
One loss doesn’t change the fact he has already beaten top tier opposition such as Derrick Lewis, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Anton Turkalj.
The two times Romanov has stepped up his competition against Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura he’s lost. So, him being a +225 undergo makes perfect sense.
In heavyweight MMA anything can happen, but we are struggling to see past Almeida getting his UFC title run back on track with a dominant performance against the Moldovan.
Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
This is one of the hardest fights to call at UFC 302.
Brown is the slight favourite at -163 and we just about give him the edge due to his strength of schedule and position as welterweight’s gatekeeper.
Only the best 170lb fighters get by him and we are not sure Zaleski dos Santos is one of them, especially as he’s been less active in recent years.
You can get odds of +125 on he 37-year-old getting it done in what is almost a pick ‘em fight that we fancy Brown in due to his versatility in the Octagon.
The American has seven KO’s, five submissions and six decision wins on his record, whereas Zaleski dos Santos is known as a KO artist but hasn’t stopped anyone with strikes since 2018.
With that in mind, Brown completes our five-fight UFC 302 parlay.
Tickets
Tickets will go on sale this Friday, April 19 at 10 a.m. ET and are available for purchase at Ticketmaster.com and VIP Experiences are available here: Ticket sales are limited to eight per person.
UFC 302 Promo Trailer
PPV price and Live streams
UFC 302: is Live on ESPN+ PPV and is available now. You can purchase the PPV here. Alternatively, you can purchase from UFC.com here. The PPV costs $79.99. In The UK, UFC 302 is available on TNT Sports as well as on UFC Fight Pass.
What is Next after UFC 302:?
The next UFC event that follows UFC 302 is UFC Saudi Arabia: Whittaker vs. Chimaev at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV on Saturday 22 June 2024.
