After the historically epic UFC 300, UFC CEO Dana White dropped a few big-time announcements in the post-fight press conference including the return of Conor McGregor and a pair of big-time fights at UFC 302.
White revealed “The Notorious” will make his return to the Octagon at UFC 303 to headline International Fight Week opposite Michael Chandler on June 29. McGregor’s last fight ended prematurely when he suffered a broken leg in the third fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. After nearly three years on the mend, the first double-champion in UFC history is eager to get back into the Octagon. He’ll have a perfect dance partner in Chandler, whose last fight came at UFC 281 also against Poirier. In five UFC appearances, Chandler has collected four Performance Bonuses and challenged for the lightweight title once.
Speaking of the lightweight title, Islam Makhachev makes his next defense of his belt against former interim champion Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in Newark. Makhachev had a banner year in 2023 in two bouts with Alexander Volkanovski, including 2023’s Fight of the Year and a blistering first-round knockout over Volkanovski in their rematch. Poirier is fresh off a statement-making knockout over Benoît Saint-Denis at UFC 299 in Miami. The fight will be Poirier’s third shot at undisputed gold after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira. The bout will also be Makhachev’s first title defense against a fellow lightweight contender after fighting Volkanovski twice following his win over Charles Oliveira to win the vacant belt at UFC 280.
Fighting in a 5-round co-main event in New Jersey is former middleweight champion Sean Strickland and former title challenger Paulo Costa. Strickland was last seen at UFC 297 where he lost his belt via split decision to Dricus Du Plessis in Toronto. Costa was last seen at UFC 298 where he went three hard rounds against Robert Whittaker although he lost the unanimous decision. The fight still figures to play a major part in the middleweight title picture.
Source: UFC.com
