UFC 242 free fight: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Dustin Poirier Preview and Schedule

UFC 242 free fight: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Dustin Poirier Preview and Schedule ahead of their UFC Lightweight Championship title unification bout.

UFC is set to host an event on the 7^th of September at The Arena, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and will form a part of Abu Dhabi Showdown Week. This will be their first visit to the country since 2014 and their third overall.

The event will feature 13 matches on the card. 4 on the Early preliminary card, 4 on the preliminary card and 5 on the main card. The match that most people will look forward to is the main event match between Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Dustin Poirier.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is the reigning undisputed champion of the Lightweight division. His last match in the UFC was his successful title defence against the Notorious Connor McGregor last year. However, the post-match incident involving members from both camps led to his suspension.

While Khabib was out with a suspension, an Interim title was created and claimed by Dustin Poirier after he beat the reigning UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway via decision earlier this year. With Khabib back into the fold there can be only one champion in the division and the ultimate fighting champion of the two will come out the victor in their clash on September 7^th.

UFC 242 will pit the two against one another where they are free to fight a slug-fest of epic proportions. Let us now breakdown the two fighters to see which one of the two hold the edge ahead of their title bout.

Striking

As far as Stand-up goes, Khabib is dwarfed by Poirier. The interim champion has seen off the likes of Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and Max Holloway at stand-up. The names mentioned are all excellent strikers but were all bettered by Poirier who is an extremely polished striker himself.

Khabib is no mug by any means. He has improved vastly when it comes to striking and even clipped Connor McGregor last year. However, he is still no match to Poirier when it comes to striking. Should the game be decided solely on the basis of their stand-up, Khabib is sure to lose the unification bout.