Nate Diaz was not enthused with the action at UFC 302.
Returning to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the promotion delivered a dozen fights headlined by a lightweight title scrap between reigning champion Islam Makhachev and division fan favorite Dustin Poirier.
While there were a few bright spots, including Kevin Holland’s horrifying technical submission victory over
Micha? Oleksiejczuk, nine of the 12 bouts ended in decision — three split and six unanimous. Even Sean Strickland acknowledged that his five-round scrap with Paulo Costa left a lot to be desired.
“It was a boring fight, I’m sorry guys,” Strickland admitted after the fact. “That Brazilian goes backward fast, I’m not known for being athletic.”
Taking to social media, former UFC star Nate Diaz was in agreement, giving his brutally honest opinion of the action in The Garden State.
“Those fights were fukn boring,” Diaz wrote on X.
Despite some lackluster fights, UFC 302 delivered a handful of exciting finishes
Though things look less-than-stellar on paper, it wasn’t all bad. Jailton Almeida climbed back into the win column with a quick first-round rear-naked choke submission over Alexandr Romanov. And in the main event of the evening, Islam Makhachev put away Poirier via a darce after four-and-a-half rounds of action that left both fighters battered and bloody.
Of course, the highlight of the night went to Holland who slapped on a slick armbar seconds after getting rocked in his main card clash with Oleksiejczuk. Despite being unable to escape the hold, ‘Hussar’ refused to tap out, prompting Holland to snap his arm. That ultimately forced referee Herb Dean to step in and call for the stoppage 94 seconds into the contest.
