Makhachev, Poirier putting legacies on the line in UFC 302 main event

When Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier step into the Octagon at Prudential Center on Saturday night to close out UFC 302, the duo will be fighting for more than the UFC lightweight title.

Although we’re often too quick to rush into conversations about legacy, bringing them up far too early or in low-stakes situations that will have no real impact, this weekend’s headlining tilt is one of those rare instances where no matter how things play out and who emerges victorious in Newark, the legacies of both men are going to be impacted in a meaningful way.

What's at stake for Islam Makhachev?

Setting aside the obvious answer of his lightweight title, Saturday’s bout with Poirier feels like a potential inflection point in the career of the 32-year-old champion, as he has an opportunity to answer one of the big questions that hovers over his title reign and possibly take another step towards all-time great status with a victory.

Through no fault of his own, Makhachev has yet to defend his title against an actual lightweight.

In his first outing after claiming the title, he faced off with then featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in a competitive battle where he emerged victorious after hanging on down the stretch. He was scheduled to defend the title against former champ Charles Oliveira back in October, but a couple weeks prior to the contest, “Do Bronx” suffered a nasty cut above the eye and was forced out. Volkanovski stepped in on short notice, Makhachev knocked him out with a head kick just over three minutes into the fight, and the “When is he gonna face an actual lightweight?” questions started to flood in.

Poirier is the genuine article — an experienced, battle-tested lightweight coming off a second-round knockout win in March and owning one of the best resumes of any fighter from his era. All that’s missing is an undisputed title reign.

Should Makhachev go out and get through “The Diamond” in the home of the NHL’s Devils, those lightweight questions should be laid to rest – should being the operative word there, because we all know they won’t be.

If he wins, even if he does it in dominant fashion, there will be people that immediately play the “… yeah, but Poirier has never been that good” and “… yeah, but Poirier’s at the end of his career” cards because they always like moving the goalposts.

But make no mistake about it: this is an “answer the question” opportunity for Makhachev, and there are few more credible, dangerous threats in the division than Poirier, so this one could be big in that regard.

Another piece at play here for the champion is his position in the pantheon of all-time greats in the 155-pound ranks.

Most have his long-time teammate and now coach Khabib Nurmagomedov as the best lightweight to ever grace the Octagon — he went out on top, with an unbeaten 29-0 record, earning 13 of those wins under the UFC banner.

With a win over Poirier, Makhachev will pick up his third consecutive successful title defence, drawing level with Nurmagomedov in that statistic, and extend his current winning streak to 14, moving him one ahead of Nurmagomedov and leaving him two back of Anderson Silva’s UFC record for consecutive victories.

He’ll have posted championship fight victories over Oliveira, Volkanovski twice, and Poirier all in less than two years, which is an incredible stretch of results in a relatively short time.

Would it be enough to vault him ahead of Nurmagomedov? That’s for each person to decide individually, but it would unquestionably make the conversation more interesting.

The last element at play here for Makhachev is what could come next, because a win opens up a world of opportunities for the ultra-talented titleholder.

Not only is Arman Tsarukyan waiting in the wings for the chance to run things back with UFC gold hanging in the balance, but there are potential “Champion vs. Champion” options with both the featherweight and welterweight champions, whomever they may be, to be considered, and once we start getting into those sorts of discussions it means we’re talking about one of the best of a generation, if not all time.

That might not be how most people view Makhachev at this point, just a few days out from his first title defence against a bona fide 155-pound contender, but all of that can change with a victory on Saturday night.

And of course, all of this goes away in a snap if he loses, which is why this is such a pivotal moment for the champion.

What's at stake for Dustin Poirier?

There has been a lot of talk in the days and weeks leading up to this weekend’s main event about whether or not an undisputed title win actually changes the legacy of one of the sport’s most beloved and respected prizefighters in Poirier and the answer is simple, if a little blunt: of course it does!

Even as someone that frequently celebrates greatness beyond the championship tier and constantly tries to hammer home to people that being the sixth-ranked welterweight in the UFC is an incredible achievement and tremendously difficult position to maintain, there is no denying that removing his name from the list of outstanding athletes to never realize an undisputed title reign in the UFC would change things dramatically for Poirier.

His career has already been outstanding, but with the way “ring culture” works in sports these days and how depressed the value of an interim title is now, it is always going to be better to have won an undisputed title than to have not won an undisputed title, simple as that.

While a win wouldn’t move him beyond Nurmagomedov in the all-time great discussions — Khabib owns a submission win over Poirier — it’s puts him in the next tier down alongside Makhachev, Oliveira, and BJ Penn, and that is pretty heady company.

There is also the potential for a Hollywood ending here for Poirier, who could, if he chose, ride off into the sunset after accomplishing the one thing that has thus far eluded him in his UFC career. And how great would that be?

Heading into his clash with Benoit Saint Denis in March, Poirier was the underdog, viewed as the veteran name being positioned opposite the ascending French contender. He was coming off his summer knockout loss to Gaethje, had already started acknowledging that the end of his career was on the horizon, and many forecasted that he was going to end up on the wrong side of the results against the streaking Saint Denis.

It looked that way early, but Poirier managed to stem the tide and secure a second-round finish, which created a “right place, right time” scenario that is playing out this weekend in Newark, one that was called to a tee in the Playing Prognosticator column after UFC 299.

Less than a year after getting viciously knocked out by Justin Gaethje in Salt Lake City, the 35-year-old has one more chance to claim undisputed gold, and if he is successful, could you possibly see a better way for him to finish his career?

Saturday will be the first time his daughter Parker will be in attendance, so how cool would it be for Poirier to win the title, stand triumphant in the centre of the Octagon with his family, friends, coaches, and teammates, and lay his four-ounce gloves down?

Athletes rarely get to author the end of their own story, and this would be a cinematic ending to a fighting career that had a cinematic start as a part of the incredible documentary Fightville. And if things play out that way — Poirier beats Makhachev, gets the title wrapped around his waist, and calls it a day — there is no way that fairytale ending doesn’t further change his legacy.

It’s human nature to remember those kinds of moments differently than what typically happens, where a championship talent packs it in after their days at the top are already in the rearview mirror and their greatest achievements are already looked at nostalgically.

And if things don’t go his way, nothing really changes for Poirier, which makes this an even greater opportunity for the challenger than it is for the champion.