UFC 302 down in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center as one of the best PPV cards of this year so far. With a stacked card, a packed crowd, and a cumulative payday of $15 million, it was one of the biggest days in UFC history. The main event stole the thunder with an absolute war with Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev leaking blood. Needless to say, Dana White ensured they were well compensated for the blood spilled.
We'll remember this title fight for a long time 📚@MAKHACHEVMMA & @DustinPoirier earn FOTN!
[ #UFC302 | B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/pd0RWFWQAC
— UFC (@ufc) June 2, 2024
The champ prevailed after he took the challenger to deep waters, pushing his pace in the last round to stop the contest in a dramatic fashion. This earned the main event the Fight of The Night bonus with Islam Makhachev bagging an extra $100,000 outside his million-dollar paycheck. Poirier also received $50,000 for his valiant effort, bumping up his total salary.
As for the Russian with a base salary of 1 million; he is expected to earn around $3-$3.5 million accounting for the PPV shares and the whopping bonus he received. On the other hand, ‘The Diamond’ will also get one of the biggest paydays which includes the bonus shares and his base pay of $800,000.
But that wasn’t enough. Dana White’s generosity saw UFC award Kevin Holland with the performance of the night bonus, handing the fighter an additional $50,000 after his R1 finish of Michal Oleksiejczuk.
While Holland’s first-round submission stunned the Polish fighter and the crowd, it was the main event between two of the best in the business that blew the roof off of the place.
Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier – The epic 5 round war
Heading into the fight, Poirier was clearly the underdog as pundits and MMA analysts gave the edge to the Russian. The fight started that way too, with Makhachev going for a takedown right off the bat and controlling the American on the ground for the rest of the round.
But ‘The Diamond’ soon found his pace and momentum in the middle of the rounds after he started defending the Dagestani’s takedowns one by one.
In fact, he held his own against the elite grappler and put him on the back foot in the clinch to trade shots with him. And while Islam did show his improved striking, he looked outclassed against Poirier’s striking. The crowd especially went berserk when Poirier caught him with a nasty elbow to leave a long deep gash on his forehead.
The fight seemed to be on going into the 5th round but a well-timed ankle pick got the American back on the mat and Makhachev transitioned from a guillotine to a D’arce choke that finally finished off the veteran with only minutes left on the clock.
This has been the closest anyone has ever come to defeating Islam and Dustin will take pride in that. If he retires after tonight, he will do so knowing he had the champion on his heels. Unfortunately, Islam Makhachev, right now, is operating on a high nobody in the UFC seems to have reached.
Perhaps, Leon Edwards will, if he manages to beat Belal Muhammad at UFC 304, as Islam had announced his intention to fight for the Brit’s welterweight title.
