Islam Makhachev is an heavy favourite for his fight with Dustin Poirier tonight in New Jersey, and plans to show why with a dominant win.
The UFC lightweight champion is making a record-equalling third title defence in the main event of UFC 302 at Newark’s Prudential Center. And some bookmakers have him as high at prices as high as -600 due to his previous domination over perceived better opponents.
Tonight is Poirier’s final chance at undisputed gold after two failed attempts against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira. And he is certain he will finish the story in dramatic fashion to land one of the sport’s great upsets.
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Islam Makhachev sends chilling final message to Dustin Poirier ahead of UFC 302
Both men made the 155lb limit for their bout early yesterday, and looked refreshed on the scales during the evening’s ceremonial weigh-in. After their press conference face-off almost came to blows, the pair had reconciled their differences and were much more cordial for their final meeting.
They both kept it relatively calm on stage as host Joe Rogan quizzed them, with Poirier saying: “It means everything to me, New Jersey it’s great to be here, thank you all I appreciate you. The talk is done, Joe. It’s time to fight.”
Makhachev was roundly booed as the New Jersey made their support for his American opponent clear. But he smiled through it and told Rogan: “I will show you guys what they mean by pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. See you tomorrow.”
After the fact, they were both followed by UFC cameras for social media. Poirier was much more animated telling the promotion’s page when asked what to expect: “Violence, every time.”
“You already know what’s up when Dustin Poirier fights,” he continued. “He’s going to be trying to hold my legs, I’m going to be trying to knock his head.”
Makhachev was wide-eyed after his appearance on the stage, and repeated his message about proving why he is the best in the world. But he left one more chilling message for Poirier and his fans when he explained how the fight would go down.
“I will show you the best performance,” he began, before walking off by saying that he “will make this fight easy.”
Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier fix their feud after swear word miscommunication
Neither man had been engaging in any sort of personal trash talk as they prepared for tonight’s super-fight. The promotion for the event was built around a mixture of Makhachev’s generational dominance and Poirier’s pursuit of the elusive belt.
But that all changed abruptly during their face-off after Thursday’s press conference. The intense moment almost ended up with punches thrown after Poirier called his rival a ‘motherf***er,’ which offended the Russian greatly.
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It appears to have been a cultural misunderstanding, with the crude swear word generally used during trash talk in America. During footage caught by UFC Embedded, Makhachev accepted something of an apology from his rival, who had the issue explained to him by manager Ali Abdelaziz.
Poirier can be seen standing over a seated Makhachev and making his case in the video. “You know me, I would never disrespect your family like that,” Poirier can be heard saying, before Abdelaziz notes that there is a culture barrier due to them being from “different countries”.