What started out as a friendly rivalry in the UFC 302 main event turned into a heated faceoff as Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier had to be pulled apart after jawing at each other following the pre-fight press conference on Thursday.
The lightweights came together for a stoic staredown at first, but then Makhachev leaned in to say something to Poirier and that prompted a response from the former interim lightweight champion.
Before long, Makhachev and Poirier were going back and forth as they both had plenty to say with UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik standing between them as the third man in the middle.
At one point, Makhachev’s demeanor changed as he continued talking to Poirier and that prompted security to get in between them and pull the fighters apart before anything crazy could happen.
The fighters converged again momentarily but the security forced them apart for the final time as the crowd in Newark roared in approval.
In what may or may not be a direct response to that critique, bareknuckle bad boy Mike Perry — fresh off his knockout win over Thiago Alves at BKFC: “KnuckleMania 4” — dropped a $ 50,000 bet on Paulo Costa, who fights Strickland in the UFC 302 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event this Sat. night (June 1, 2024) at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
Costa is currently a +195 underdog.
“Paulo Costa said he’s coming to put a beating onto Sean Strickland this weekend,” Perry told his Instagram followers. “I’m rocking with that Brazilian power. ‘Borrachinha’ in the building! I think he has more tools in MMA to get the job done. Let’s go Paulo, show him what I’m talking about.”
A victory for “The Eraser” returns $ 140,000.
Perry is no stranger to mouthy UFC middleweights. Former division titleholder, Luke Rockhold, went head-to-head with “Platinum” at BKFC 41 in Denver and got his teeth rearranged for his efforts. The 32 year-old Perry is now 5-0 in bareknuckle boxing with three blistering knockouts.
For the rest of the UFC 302 fight card and PPV lineup click here.
On the fourth episode of UFC 302 Embedded, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev readies for all of the Khabib Nurmagomedov questions, Dustin Poirier and Sean Strickland take in the sights, Paulo Costa goes for a swim, Kevin Holland arrives in New Jersey, Jake Matthews hunts for New York pizza and bagels, and more.
Islam Makhachev is more than happy to fight Conor McGregor, but he doesn’t want to do it inside the Octagon.
On June 1, the reigning lightweight world champion will put his 155-pound title on the line when he steps into the main event spotlight at UFC 302 in New Jersey for a showdown with division fan favorite Dustin Poirier. Ahead of his third defense, the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ has been making the rounds, offering his thoughts on the new UFC gloves and celebrating 50 clean drug tests.
Along the way, Makhachev also addressed the ongoing rivalry with Irish megastar Conor McGregor. Recently, ‘Mystic Mac’ made some pretty disparaging remarks about Makhachev and his team, prompting the Dagestani to snap back.
In an interview with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, Makhachev suggested that instead of a one-on-one fight with McGregor in the cage, they could each bring their teams and have a good old-fashioned Anchorman-style street brawl.
“I want when we meet [Conor McGregor’s] team, and we all team, in the street somewhere, and we have good fights,” Makhachev said. “You know, because we all have many, many big experiences in the street. We just want to meet them and finish all talks, team vs. team. It’s going to be more interesting. Because already Khabib beat him in the cage, beat his corner. But team vs. team, maybe we can make ‘Ultimate Fighter.’”
Perhaps the UFC could take a page of out DAZN’s book and put together their own 5 vs. 5 event on pay-per-view.
Conor McGregor Returns to the Octagon Four Weeks After Islam Makhachev’s latest title defense
As Makhachev marches toward his title tilt with ‘The Diamond,’ Conor McGregor has been dancing the night away in preparation for his upcoming clash with former Bellator MMA champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler on Saturday, June 29.
It will be McGregor’s first time competing since suffering a nasty leg injury during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirer in July 2021. In the years since, McGregor has stayed in the spotlight, regularly calling out fighters he’ll never compete with, buying into Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and making his feature film debut in a remake of the 1989 action classic Road House.
Initially, McGregor was listed as a -115 favorite on DraftKings, but with the Irishman’s recent late-night outing, fans appear to be losing faith. Currently, the former two-division champ is sitting at -102 compared to Chandler who is now a slight favorite at -118.
Will those odds continue to widen as we march closer to International Fight Week?
In April, the UFC announced the development of new fight gloves. They will debut this weekend at UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“We have been working on these gloves over the past few years with the best designers, engineers, and athletes in the world,” said UFC CEO and President Dana White during their unveiling. “This redesign will truly be a game changer for the entire sport of MMA. These gloves will feel lighter, fit fighters’ hands better, prevent injuries, and provide maximum flexibility during the fights.
While some fighters like the new gloves, former middleweight champion Sean Strickland is not one of them. Strickland takes on Paulo Costa in the UFC 302 co-main event and heavily criticized the new gloves during the UFC 302 Media Day.
“They suck,” said Strickland. “They suck. Can we talked to the person who designed these gloves? Have you ever been in a fight in your f***ing life? It’s like you get these f***ing dorks that have no idea. ‘Oh this sounds like a good idea,’ and they make it… They absolutely suck. UFC, you dropped the ball on that one.”
One complaint UFC 302 main event fighter Dustin Poirier has raised about the new gloves is he anticipates fighters will receive more cuts due to the less compact padding.
“I do think there might be more cuts because the padding isn’t as dense. I feel like the knuckles are going to pierce through that padding they have and cause more cuts,” said Poirier.
Shavkat Rakhmonov is not here for Joaquin Buckley’s callouts.
The terrifying welterweight contender, who boasts a 100-percent finish rate through his 18-0 career, responded after Buckley mentioned his name in late May as a potential opponent. That came after Buckley previously called out Conor McGregor following his win at UFC St. Louis before turning his attention to Gilbert Burns as an ideal next fight.
Buckley apparently just kept looking further and further up the rankings until he landed on Rakhmonov, but the 29-year-old mauler didn’t think much about his callout.
“I thought your Conor callout was delusional, but you’ve actually outdone yourself this time,” Rakhmonov said in response to Buckley’s message on Twitter.
I thought your Conor callout was delusional, but you’ve actually outdone yourself this time https://t.co/GGuAeNFvzv
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) May 30, 2024
By all accounts, Rakhmonov is likely one win away from a title shot after demolishing Stephen Thompson in his most recent outing. While Buckley remains undefeated as a welterweight in the UFC, he’s still several steps behind Rakhmonov in terms of rankings.
After seeing Rakhmonov’s message, Buckley responded again and claimed that it was the fighter’s head coach actually talking on Twitter.
“Henri Hooft think he slick,” Buckley wrote. “You can’t talk for Shavkat nor can you fight for him either.”
@henrihooft think he slick lol you can’t talk for Shavkat nor can you fight for him either #KillCliffKiller https://t.co/twISydx7vd
— Joaquin New Mansa Buckley (@Newmansa94) May 30, 2024
We bout to start cooking now @Rakhmonov1994 pic.twitter.com/Lz9CBbOlK6
— Joaquin New Mansa Buckley (@Newmansa94) May 30, 2024
Since beating Nursulton Ruziboev in May, Buckley has rubbed more than a few fighters the wrong way, including UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier, who took exception to the welterweight referencing his late mother in a separate post on Twitter.
Buckley also went after veteran featherweight contender Cub Swanson in another post on social media.
There’s still no word on who Buckley might actually get to fight next, but his callouts have gotten him some attention. It remains to be seen whether that actually works out for his benefit or not.
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