UFC 302 News: New Jersey Event Loses Main Card Fight to Injury

UFC 302 has taken a significant hit just over a month before the event is scheduled at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Dana White announced shortly after UFC 300 that UFC 302 would be headlined by a lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier, with middleweights Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa in the co-main event, both of which were massive additions to the card on June 1.

The night’s main card will also feature a heavyweight bout between Jailton Almeida and Alexandr Romanov, but unfortunately, a middleweight contest between Anthony Hernandez and Roman Dolidze has been scrapped after Hernandez suffered a hand injury during training.

“Fluffy” is currently on an impressive five-fight win streak that includes four finishes, and the matchup with Dolidze would have been a massive opportunity for Hernandez to break into the middleweight Top 10.

It’s unclear now if the UFC will attempt to find a replacement opponent for Dolidze at UFC 302. Considering the Georgian shared some training footage shortly before Hernandez announced his injury, Dolidze may be happy to accept a new matchup so he can try to snap his current two-fight skid.

Fans are still waiting for confirmation on who Dricus Du Plessis will face for his first middleweight title defense. With a huge matchup between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev on the horizon, as well as the Strickland vs. Costa matchup at UFC 302, several top middleweights could lobby for a title shot in the near future.

Losing Hernandez vs. Dolidze was a significant blow to the main card for UFC 302, and for the moment, the event has 12 scheduled fights just over a month before it’s set to take place in Newark.

• Main Event: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier – For the UFC Lightweight Championship

• Co-Main Event: Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa

• Jailton Almeida vs. Alexandr Romanov

• Joselyne Edwards vs. Ailin Perez

• Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez

• Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki

• Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews

• Hyung Sung Park vs. André Lima

• Roman Kopylov vs. César Almeida

• Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski

• Niko Price vs. Alex Morono

• Tatsuro Taira vs. Joshua Van

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