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Will “The Diamond” finally capture gold in what will likely be his final opportunity? Less than a month away from UFC 302, Dustin Poirier graces the event’s poster, alongside heavily favored opponent and UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

On Thursday, the UFC released the official poster for the June 1 event, which takes place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. In the main event, Makhachev, the No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, puts his 155-pound title on the line against Poirier.

Check out the poster below.

The poster also features the co-main event for the first of two June pay-per-view fight cards. In a pivotal battle in the UFC middleweight division, former champion Sean Strickland competes for the first time since dropping the belt to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297, as he faces one-time title challenger Paulo Costa in a five-round contest.

The UFC 302 main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view and marks the second straight year UFC has held a numbered event in Newark.

See the updated UFC 302 card below (bout order still to be finalized).

• Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier
• Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa
• Jailton Almeida vs. Alexandr Romanov
• Niko Price vs. Alex Morono
• Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki
• Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski
• Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews
• Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez
• Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov
• Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards
• Tatsuro Taira vs. Joshua Van

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Despite being on an incredible 11-fight winning streak, UFC 301 flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg isn’t a household name.  The tenth-ranked Australian has largely flown under the radar but plans to change that on Saturday.  

Erceg takes on flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja in the UFC 301 main event in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and isn’t worried bout being the underdog.  

“I know that I wasn’t on the top of everyone’s mind when it came to a title shot, but the way that the division was Pantoja had already beaten a lot of the challengers and people are injured” Erceg said at the UFC 301 Media Day.  “The only other guy that was really in line for a shot was [Muhammad] Mokaev and I was on the same card as him.  I had a more exciting fight than he did and the UFC decided to give me a shot.

“I’m here to be the best guy in the world, so whether I’m an underdog or I’m the favorite, it doesn’t really matter to me.  I’m going to go in there and fight another dude in a cage and whoever is best is going to come out. on top.”  

Pantoja is known for his durability and toughness.  Erceg expects the fight to get ‘scrappy’ and he’s out to prove how tough he is.

“I think I’m going to hold range.  I’m going to walk him into space and hit him from angles and that short of thing.  I know he’s a real tough guy, so at some point it’s going to get sloppy.  It’s going to scrappy and I’m going to prove that I’m not just a technical guy.  I’m also a tough guy,” he said.  

“I’ve been working for this dream my whole life and this is the culmination of all my hard work,” Erceg continued.  “To lose here would be devastating for me.  I’ve got plenty of pressure on my shoulders and I’m confident in all the work I’ve done over the years.  I’ve trained very hard for a very long time.”  

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Ronda Rousey can soon add screenwriter to a résumé that already includes Olympic bronze medalist, UFC champion, and WWE superstar.

On the heels of the release of her second autobiography, Our Fight, the 37-year-old retired fighter now has plans to adapt her life story into a screenplay for a biopic currently in the works at Netflix. Rousey had originally signed on at Paramount for the film rights to her story, but changes in management at the studio eventually allowed the deal to lapse.

Now Rousey takes her story to Netflix after Michelle Evans, a manager for original studio films at Netflix, championed the project, having become a fan of Rousey’s in the UFC. The original deal was inked after Rousey released her first autobiography, but since then she penned a second book alongside her sister Maria Burns Ortiz, which documents her UFC downfall and exit following a pair of brutal knockout losses, her history with concussions, and her tumultuous time she spent as a professional wrestler in WWE.

Deadline first reported the news, with Chernin Entertainment — a company responsible for films such as Ford vs. Ferrari and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes — expected to produce the project.

Rousey reportedly fought for the opportunity to write the script for her own biopic after Mark Bomback was initially retained to adapt the story into a screenplay.

Through her agents at William Morris Endeavor — the same company that now serves as majority owners of the UFC — Rousey began working with an executive to help her learn how to become a screenwriter. Over time, Rousey apparently started picking up the technique as well as the structure required for a proper screenplay.

Once she impressed the agents at WME with her newfound skills, Rousey allegedly penned the script about her own life in just seven days. Insiders told Deadline that Rousey’s agents tore the front page off her script before presenting it to executives at Netflix so they would have no idea who wrote it.

Netflix apparently loved the script and reached out to find out about the writer. After discovering it was Rousey who wrote the story, a deal was inked almost immediately to land the rights to the biopic.

While Rousey now serves as writer and producer on her own biopic, she’s no longer expected to star in the lead role, which was initially the plan when she sold the rights to her story to Paramount. Rousey and other producers behind the film are now expected to meet with potential candidates to play her in the coming months as the film gets closer to production.

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Some random loser
| BJPenn.com

UFC fighters seem to have a fascination with doing “weird sh*t” in the desert.

Today’s offering comes from No. 1-ranked bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili, who is challenging reigning 135-pound titleholder Sean O’Malley to a “Sphere” title fight to commemorate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

“Sean, I know you wanna fight in September,” Dvalishvili said. “Let’s make this fight happen for my people on Mexican Independence Day, cabron. Let’s go.”

Fortunately, O’Malley’s body double wasn’t buried in the name of the skit.

O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) captured the crown by stopping Aljamain Sterling in the UFC 292 main event last August, then returned at UFC 299 in Miami to whoop Marlon Vera. As for Dvalishvili (17-4), he’s coming off a dominant performance against Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 last Feb. in Anaheim, which also came with a pre-fight lesson from the inimitable Professor Merab.

UFC is expected to announce a date and location in the coming weeks.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Arnold Allen will compete in front of a home crowd.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Allen will face Giga Chikadze at UFC 304, which takes place July 27 at the new Co-Op Live in Manchester, England. Super Lutas first reported the bout was in the works.

Allen hopes to avoid a three-fight losing streak after suffering the first two defeats of his pro MMA career. After a 10-0 start in the UFC, “Almighty” dropped back-to-back decisions to Max Holloway at UFC Kansas City in April 2023, and Movsar Evloev in his most recent outing at January’s UFC 297 event. Prior to that, Allen earned stoppage wins against Calvin Kattar and Dan Hooker, along with a unanimous decision win against Sodiq Yusuff.

Chikadze will look to find more consistency in 2024 as he’s only competed once since losing for the first time in the UFC to Kattar at UFC Vegas 46 in January 2022. In his lone 2023 appearance, “Ninja” earned a decision win against Alex Caceres at UFC Singapore this past August.

Damon Martin contributed to this report.

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Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has had a long and storied mixed martial arts career.  He debuted as a professional in May of 2009 and has fought 30 times in the UFC octagon.  

“The Diamond” has fought the biggest names in the lightweight division and holds two wins over former two-division titleholder Conor McGregor.  He earned Fight of the Night honors a record nine times and captured the interim 155-pound championship.  

On June 1, in the UFC 302 main event, Poirier will have the opportunity to become the undisputed lightweight champion after two previously failed attempts when he takes on titleholder Islam Makhachev.  It could also be the last fight in Poirier’s career.  

“I’ve just given this sport so much, not only physically but my time, my focus.  Being a fighter you have to be so focused on you.  I want to be with my family.  I want to focus on my daughter, what she’s got going on, my wife, my foundation, businesses I have back home.  I just have a lot of stuff that kind of gets put on hold so to say for me to chase these dreams.  You have to be selfish to be one of the best.  I’ve been doing it for so long.  I’m approaching 18 years of fighting and I want to become the world champion and live my life.  I’ve dedicated so much to fighting over the past 18 years that it’s time to be like a civilian I feel like,” Poirier told Fight Bananas.  

Related: Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya have heated exchange at press conference

During the interview, Poirier admitted that his UFC 302 title bout could be his last octagon appearance.  The 35-year-old is looking ahead to a life outside of the fight game whether becomes champion or not.    

“It could be (my last fight).  It could be.  I haven’t made like an official decision yet, but it could be,” he said.  “I’ve said this over and over again.  I still have a lot of tread on the tired.  I can beat these guys.  I can beat these young guys.  I just did it.  I still feel good.  My body feels good, but it’s just like how much do I want to give to this sport because you don’t ride for free.”    

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