Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev will go to war in the main event of UFC 302 for the lightweight title. The king of the 155-pound division is a massive -625 favorite entering the bout, but ‘The Diamond’ is adamant he will land the knockout blow and walk away with the belt.
Makhachev has shown himself to be more than just a grappler, with his headkick KO of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294, and knockdown of Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, both examples of his striking accumen.
But Poirier believes that he has the ability to set a trap for the champion to fall into on the night.
During a recent interview with Daniel Cormier, the former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier discussed his chances of beating Makhachev, saying:
“I just know if he comes in fumbling over his feet, his weight’s over his feet and he’s trying to hit me with big shots, I’m going to set him up and he’s going to run into something. We’ve seen him hurt before, even guys that have never been dropped, we know they can be put down. They’re human. I just think I’m the guy to do it.”