The UFC arrives in Newark on Saturday, June 1 with the promotion’s lightweight title on the line, and a key middleweight fight scheduled for five rounds in the co-headliner at UFC 302.
The five-fight PPV card is headlined by 155lb champ Islam Makhachev, looking to make it fourteen straight wins against perennial contender Dustin Poirier. With losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira for the undisputed title not to mention being KO’d by Justin Gaethje for the “BMF” belt, former interim champ Poirier knows full well that Saturday very well may mark his final shot at glory.
As for Makhachev, a win over “The Diamond” will add another ruby to his belt, but may also open a path to welterweight for a shot at a second title.
Our picks are in for UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Saturday – here’s how we see the main card playing out!
| Writer / Fight | Brown vs. Zaleski | Price vs. Morono | Holland vs. Oleksiejczuk | Strickland vs. Costa | Makhachev vs. Poirier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Anderson (66-30) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Eddie Law (58-37) | | | | |  |
| Alex Behunin (58-38) | | |  | | |
| Jamie Theodosi (50-36) | | | | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (53-42) | | | | | |
| Val Dewar (46-39) | | | | | |
| Patrick McCorry (51-44) | | | | | |
By a five to two margin, we see champ Islam Makhachev retaining his title in the UFC 302 main event, in what is admittedly a difficult match-up stylistically for Dustin Poirier.
Our crew sided with Kevin Holland by the exact same margin in his middleweight fight with Poland’s Michał Oleksiejczuk. That, despite Holland having competed more as a welterweight of late. The rest of the card, however, saw us far more decisive, with Randy Brown, Alex Morono, and Sean Strickland all unanimous selections.
