Islam Makhachev beats Dustin Poirier to retain UFC lightweight title

PA Sport Staff

Islam Makhachev retained his UFC lightweight title after submitting Dustin Poirier in the fifth round at UFC 302 in New Jersey.

The Russian won his 14th straight fight under the UFC banner with a d’arce choke in the third minute to dash his American opponent’s quest to become undisputed champion.

With former US President Donald Trump among the crowd at Prudential Center in Newark, Makhachev landed 88 significant strikes – 147 in total – and five takedowns en route to victory.

Poirier, 35, joins the ranks of UFC fighters who have fallen short in three title fights following the loss.

Earlier, ex-UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland secured a split decision win over ex-title challenger Paulo Costa.

The 33-year-old American retained number one spot in the middleweight rankings by bouncing back from his title-losing decision match-up against Dricus du Plessis.

Kevin Holland took just one minute 34 seconds to win his middleweight bout with Michal Oleksiejczuk by submission.

Also on the main card, Niko Price and Randy Brown each claimed unanimous decision wins in the welterweight category, beating Alex Morono and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos respectively.