Islam Makhachev retained his lightweight belt Saturday at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., by submitting Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier in the fifth round of a thrilling main event at UFC 302. Makhachev won via D’Arce choke as a -450 ‘chalk’ after a flood of late money came in on Poirier to reduce the odds from North of -600.

BetMGM ended up closing at -400. The Mirage’s Scott Shelton confirmed to MajorWager that “the books dodged a big bullet last night!”

Wagers on ‘over’ 2.5 rounds cashed for a +130 return at BetRivers. The prop for Makhachev to win by submission hit at prices varying from -103 at BetRivers to -140 at BetMGM.

Makhachev dominated the opening frame by scoring an early takedown and keeping control for the rest of the round. He worked on multiple submissions and nearly had Poirier in trouble at one point with a rear-naked choke attempt. However, Poirier remained calm and was able to weather the storm.

In the second round, the momentum shifted with Poirier getting back to his feet after Makhachev got another early takedown. After stuffing multiple takedown attempts, Poirier started letting his hands go. His confidence began to grow later in the round, especially after connecting with a big left. Makhachev was able to get the fight back to the ground with a nice trip, but there wasn’t enough time left to get anything done.

MajorWager scored the second stanza for Poirier to make it 19-19 going into the third.

After landing a big knee, Makhachev took Poirier down and briefly had him mounted with a body triangle. This appeared to be big trouble for Poirier, but he was able to wisely sneak out the back using the fence.

When Poirier got back to his feet, the crowd erupted. Then came the chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!” But Makhachev started having success with his hands, landing multiple combinations that had Poirier’s nose bleeding and the right side of his face swelling.

Poirier was really game, though, and started talking to Makhachev, who knew he was in for a battle. Both men traded good shots that landed in the closing moments of the round that went to Makhachev on MajorWager’s scorecard to make it 29-28 going to the championship rounds.

Between the third and fourth rounds, Poirier told his corner that his nose was broken. Right on cue, replays showed a clash of heads likely caused the unfortunate injury. Makhachev’s coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was frustrated with his pupil and lit into him.

In the fourth, Poirier stuffed multiple takedown attempts early in the round, only to eventually get taken down about midway through the frame. Nevertheless, Poirier was able to hit a switch and get back to his feet.

Then he went to work, ripping big shots to the body. Next, Poirier landed a nasty elbow on the inside that cut Makhachev, who began to leak blood galore from his forehead. Islam went for a single, but Dustin defended well, and his confidence was clearly soaring as he started making conversation with Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier as the round came to an end.

MajorWager gave Poirer the fourth to knot the score at 38-38. We learned after the fight that two judges had Makhachev ahead 39-37, while the third had it at 38-38. Therefore, Dustin had to get a finish in the fifth.

Before the final frame, there was an enormous sense of urgency in the champion’s corner. There was a different tone from Dustin’s team. Urgency for sure, but of a more encouraging and exciting nature, although Poirier was experiencing some pain in his knee from an injury that appeared to occur when he was defending Islam’s takedown attempt midway through the fourth.

Makhachev outworked Poirier early in the fifth, landing more strikes on some early exchanges. However, he bailed on a single-leg attempt and got caught by Poirier with a right hand as he gave up on it.

Makhachev went for another single. He didn’t seem to have it and just as Dustin was about to load up on a right uppercut, Islam wisely bailed out and twisted Dustin’s leg in the process. This caused Poirier to lose his balance and fall. Makhachev pounced on him and grabbed a headlock.

When Islam began working on a guillotine, Dustin had to roll. Then Makhachev went for a D’Arce and locked it in. It was tight and Poirier had to tap.

After he tapped, he actually went out, demonstrating how tight the choke was in. Makhachev’s team immediately rushed the Octagon and swarmed the champion.

Makhachev and Poirier bagged an extra $50,000 each for Fight of the Night honors, and the champ added another 50k with a Performance of the Night bonus. The other POTN bonus went to Kevin Holland, who we will discuss here shortly.

Makhachev is now gunning for double-champ status. He said in his post-fight presser, “If you want a great legacy, you have to get a second belt.”

As for Poirier, he conceded before and after the fight that this was most likely his last chance at earning undisputed UFC gold. However, he didn’t say whether or not we saw him in the Octagon for the final time at UFC 302.

My sense is that he’s going to be down for another 2-3 fights, perhaps even up a weight class in the welterweight loop. As UFC President Dana White said at his post-fight presser, “He can do whatever he wants.”

In other words, if he’s reluctant to retire while still at the top of his game, the promotion will offer him fun fights against big names in whatever division he wants. So, we shall see.

Whatever the case, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier has zero to be ashamed of. He is one of the greatest fighters in the history of combat sports, regardless of whether or not he ever earned the moniker of “undisputed UFC lightweight champion.”

Furthermore, he’s one of the classiest dudes in an industry full of bad apples. Speaking of classy dudes, when Poirier stood up after last night’s defeat, the one who helped him up was none other than Nurmagomedov, who handed Poirier the first of three defeats he took in title fights.

In the co-main event, Scott Strickland dominated Paulo Costa to everyone that witnessed the contest except for Dave Tirelli, who was unfortunately one of the three judges. Tirelli inexplicably scored the bout 49-46 for Costa.

Therefore, Strickland won by split decision (50-45, 49-46, 46-49) as a -240 ‘chalk.’ According to MMADecisions, all 24 media members had Strickland winning. Thirteen scored it 50-45, 10 had it 49-46 and one had it 48-47.

Tirelli should never judge a fight again – ever!

Strickland completely shut down the Brazilian for five rounds, peppering him with jabs and teep kicks. Bettors backing Strickland to win by unanimous decision were robbed of a +180 payout. Tirelli’s incompetence allowed for gamblers taking Strickland to win by split decision to cash a monster +700 ticket.

Perhaps Tirelli and his friends were holding a few of those +700 tickets?

Strickland remains the middleweight division’s #1 contender, but it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll get a rematch with the champion, Dricus Du Plessis, or if that’ll go to former champ, Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya.

The winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner will also be in the mix to face DDP.

Holland defeated Michal Oleksiejczuk via submission (armbar) 94 seconds into their main-card bout. He ended a two-fight losing streak as a -275 favorite in his return to middleweight for the first time since 2021.

In a welterweight contest, Niko ‘The Hybrid’ Price also snapped a two-fight skid by winning a UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Alex Moreno as a +220 underdog.

In the opener of the pay-per-view card, Randy Brown won his third consecutive fight and improved to 7-1 in his last eight outings by capturing a UD triumph (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos.

After losing by second-round knockout to Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299, Brazilian heavyweight Jailton Almeida got back on track with a submission win (rear-naked choke) over Alexander Romanov as a -300 ‘chalk.’

Almeida wants to take on French heavyweight Ciryl Gane in the UFC Paris headliner in September.