UFC 242 Preview
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UFC 242: Khabib vs Poirier
Location: du Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Date: Saturday, September 7, 2019
Time: 11am PT
Main Event – World Lightweight Championship – Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0) vs Dustin Poirier (25-5, 1 NC)
Back on October 6, 2018, Khabib beat Conor McGregor via submission in a highly anticipated fight to capture the UFC World Lightweight Championship. Just moments after the fight ended, Khabib hopped over the fence and into the crowd, which caused a chaotic riot to unfold. His actions led to the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspending Khabib for nine months. With nine months being too long without a title defense, Dana White, UFC President, decided to take action and scheduled a fight to determine an interim champion.
So on April 13 of this year, Poirier defeated Max Holloway via unanimous decision to become the Interim Lightweight Champion. Now almost a year since defeating McGregor, Khabib is returning to the octagon to face off against Poirier. The winner will become the Unified Lightweight Champion.
Co-main Event – Lightweight bout – Edson Barboza (20-7) vs Paul Felder (16-4)
This is a rematch of a classic fight from back in 2015 that saw Barboza defeat Felder via unanimous decision. Since their first fight, the two competitors spent a short time being teammates at the same camp before going their separate ways going onto more fights in their careers. There is no bad blood between the fighters, but Felder always wanted another chance at the man who gave him his first loss in the UFC. Now he has another chance, when he faces off against Barboza on Saturday.
Lightweight bout – Islam Makhachev (17-1) vs Davi Ramos (10-2)
Heavyweight bout – Curtis Blaydes (11-2, 1 NC) vs Shamil Abdurakhimov (20-4)
Lightweight bout – Mairbek Taisumov (27-5) vs Carlos Diego Ferreira (15-2)
