Dustin Poirier was denied a fairytale ending to his story in the Octagon on Saturday, as Islam Makhachev submitted the fan favourite to retain the lightweight title at UFC 302.
Poirier, 35, was fighting for the title for the third time, having previously suffered submission losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019 and Charles Oliveira in 2021.
The American previously held the interim belt but failed to unify the gold, and he hinted before and after UFC 302 that he might not fight again.
Poirier did himself justice across four-and-a-half rounds against Makhachev, the UFC’s pound-for-pound No 1, but the Russian out-grappled Poirier for much of the bout and secured a D’Arce choke in the final frame. Poirier tapped out but also seemed to go unconscious immediately after – for a brief moment – as Makhachev recorded a third successful title defence.
In doing so, Makhachev matched the number of defences achieved by Khabib, his coach and childhood friend, who reigned from 2018 until his in-ring retirement in 2020. Re-live UFC 302 updates and see all results below.
