The march toward UFC 300 continues and promotion president Dana White dropped some big fight news on Sunday night. White announced that Dustin Poirier would take on Benoit Saint-Denis in a five-round co-main event at UFC 299 while UFC 300 has added a fight between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan with the winner earning a shot at the lightweight championship.
Poirier, a former interim lightweight champion, has lost two of his three most recent fights, getting submitted by Oliveira in a fight for the lightweight title in December 2021. After a bounce-back win over Michael Chandler the following November, Poirier suffered a devastating head kick knockout to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 this past June.
The 1-2 run is only the second time in Poirier's 38-fight career that he has suffered two losses in a three-fight stretch. Coming off the momentum of back-to-back stoppage wins over Conor McGregor, Poirier had hit another level of stardom but badly needs a win over Saint-Denis to claw back into the title picture at 155 pounds.
After suffering the first loss of his professional career in his UFC debut, Saint-Denis has rattled off five consecutive wins. His two most recent victories have been the biggest of his career, stopping Thiago Moises with strikes in September and then knocking out Matt Frevola with a head kick just five weeks later.
In 13 career victories, Saint-Denis has four wins by knockout and nine by submission.
White has guaranteed UFC 300 would be a massive event with a loaded card from top to bottom. The inclusion of Oliveira and Tsarukyan boosts that claim.
After Khabib Nurmagomedov retired, ending his dominant run as UFC lightweight champion, Oliveira surprisingly emerged as the new face of the division, dominating Tony Ferguson before knocking out Michael Chandler to win the vacant championship.
Oliveira then submitted Poirier to defend the title before missing weight in his next planned title defense, being stripped of the championship but again defeating a top contender when he submitted Justin Gaethje.
Oliveira's run came to an end at the hands of Islam Makhachev, who submitted Oliveira, the UFC's all-time leader in submission victories and overall finishes. Oliveira bounced back in a big way this past June when he knocked out Beneil Dariush.
The win over Dariush set Oliveira up for a rematch with Makhachev, which was supposed to go down in October only for Oliveira to be forced out of the fight due to injuries.
Tsarukyan is currently riding a three-fight winning streak after suffering a June 2022 decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot. While his wins over Damir Ismagulov and Joaquim Silva were impressive, it was a December knockout of Dariush in just 64 seconds that vaulted Tsarukyan into the fight with Oliveira.
Like Oliveira, Tsarukyan also has a loss to Makhachev on his record, meaning the winner will not only receive a title shot, but a chance to avenge a loss to the champ.
