Islam Makhachev retained his lightweight title in a hard fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. The pair battled it out in the main event live on pay-per-view from Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Saturday, June 1.
Making the third defends of his belt, Makhachev took the victory via D’Arce choke. The official time was 2 minutes and 42 seconds into the second round.
With the victory by submission, Islam Makhachev improved to 26-1 and secured his 14th win in a row. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, the 32-year-old said he wanted to challenge for the title at welterweight.
“I think Dustin did great camp, his coach is working very well and they prepare, he prepared very good. He defends my takedown and gave me a hard time. [sic],” Makhachev said. “He is a champion, legend of the sport. Thank you, Dustin.”
“It’s my one favorite choke. Doesn’t matter I tired, what happened. I can did this choke all night. [sic]”
“It’s my dream, I want to fight for the second belt. I want to feel that energy again. Because when you defense the belt it’s not same, I need new one. [sic]”
Dustin Poirier of Lafayette, Louisiana dropped to 30-9, 1 NC. The former interim lightweight champion didn’t succeed in his third attempt to land a major belt. The 35-year-old said he wasn’t sure if he was going to fight again.
“He’s the champ,” Poirier said. “I thought I was starting to chip away at him, he just kept coming back. I thought I was doing a really good job of taking takedown defense. Me and [Mateusz] Gamrot worked for six weeks on getting back to my feet, not giving up position, not like him get the hooks. But I stopped most of him in the open, he got me down against the fence, but here he did like a low single ankle pickle most and whip my leg up and I… and that was the end, bro.”
When asked whether it was his final appearance inside the UFC Octagon, Poirier said: “If I do fight again, what am I fighting for? Just a fight? It has to [be for something important]. I’ve done that 50 times. I don’t know. I got a little girl I love and I got to see. I think this could be it honestly, Joe.”
Get UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier full card results.
