Saturday night, the UFC returned to Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, for the first time since 2019. The crowd and energy in New Jersey didn’t disappoint either, in fact, it impressed UFC owner Dana White. The UFC sold out the prudential with over 17,000 in attendance, including the highest gate (7.25 million) beating the Rolling Stones record since 2012. That said, all the fights from the prelims to the main card were sensational and many of the fans appreciated them. Most importantly, the main and co-main event lived up to its hype, and many witnessed history.
“This place was incredible. They were buzzing all night,” White stated in the post-fight press conference. “They were waiting for something to happen, so tonight the arena got me this board and it’s all the fights so that’s been in New Jersey. Here’s what’s incredible, the first fight in [New] Jersey was in 2000.”
“Me and the Fertitta’s were there, looking at the UFC at the time. … Then, we come back to the Meadowlands, so it’s cool to see 25 years ago how we were at the first one here,” White continues. “Jersey has always been good to us and it’s always fun to come back here.”
Main Card Breakdowns and Results
Despite the electric atmosphere in Prudential, the biggest takeaways from the fights were the relentlessness and pure athleticism of some of these fighters. Unfortunately for the crowd, there were no knockouts throughout the entire event.
That said, UFC Welterweight Randy Brown defeated Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos convincingly and unanimously. Brown controlled most of the exchange, however, he was taken down multiple times by Santos to try to kill his momentum. The fight consisted of a ton of grappling. Brown managed to nimbly escape and, using the momentum from the crowd, win the fight.
“I just knew I had to stay calm, and I’ve been there before,” Brown explains the pivotal moment in the fight. “I have a lot of high-level black belts on my team, and I consider myself a high-level black belt. I was comfortable and I’ve been there so many times. It’s not unfamiliar to me, I always try to stay calm and just chalked it up to the referee. He was down there too long and the round was done, but I just worked my inches, and the moment I was able to, get some ground and pound. Once he tried to move, I jumped on his back, and that gave me the momentum shift.”
The next fight was another Welterweight contest between Niko Price and Alex Morono. Price won this fight pretty clearly. His pace and relentless offense were too much for Morono. Price managed to dominate in the exchanges, as well as on the ground. Morono attempted a few successful takedowns, however, he continued to lose position and allowed Price to get back to his feet. The crowd enjoyed the intensity of both fighters, however, Price’s fatigue and striking abilities managed to allow him to prevail.
Following Price, Middleweight division Kevin Holland took on Michal Oleksiejczuk. Many expected this fight to be a thriller, however the fight ended very quickly. Within the first round, Holland managed to execute an armbar after being initially dropped by Oleksiejczuk. Once the armbar was in place it was clear it was only one way out. Although unconfirmed, however, Oleksiejczuk’s arm appeared broken, and if the fight had continued, likely would have worsened.
UFC 302 Co-Main Event and Main Event
This leads to the co-main event between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa. This fight was highly anticipated, and many expected a full-out war. Instead, Strickland controlled the majority of this fight by forcing Costa to retreat and move in circles. He continued tiring Costa out with front kicks and body blows. Costa didn’t seem to have a plan to counter Strickland’s attack and this led to easy takedowns for Strickland. Ultimately, Strickland won in a split decision that left many in awe, however, he was satisfied he still won.
“I think there was that moment where every time Costa was like, ‘I’m going to fight this man,’ he gets stuck in that phase like, ‘I don’t think I want to fight this man today,” Strickland emphasizes. “’So I think a lot of it just is you never know how good somebody is until they fight somebody good, and that’s what you saw there.”
Finally, the main event of the night was between UFC Lightweights Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. The building was electric, and this fight was nothing but twists and turns filled with climaxes and turning points. There were a ton of momentum shifts, essentially everything you wanted to make an amazing fight. Makhachev took Poirer into the final round and defeated him by submission with a D’arce choke.
Before the finish, Makhachev dominated the opening rounds by taking Poirer to the ground, however, in the third and fourth, it appeared Poirer began to find success. He began not allowing Makhachev to take him down and started landing much heavier strikes on their feet. Eventually, he hurt Makhachev and many began to feel the tides turn. However, Makhachev was able to take him down, ultimately leading to Poirer’s defeat in the final round.
After the fight, Poirer announced he may be considering retirement.
PRELIMS UNDERCARD
● Andre Lima wins in a split decision over Mitch Raposo.
● Ailin Perez wins in a unanimous decision over Joselyne Edwards.
● Bassil Hafez defeats New Jersey native Mickey Gall by unanimous decision.
● Jake Matthews defeats Phil Rowe in a unanimous decision.
● Grant Dawson defeats New Jersey native Joe Solecki in a unanimous decision ● Jailton Almeida (7) wins by submission against Alexander Romanov (13). ● Roman Kopylov defeats Cesar Almeida by unanimous decision.
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