Before the UFC lands on Fight Island, a former interim lightweight champion and a lightweight contender will meet in Las Vegas as Dustin Poirier faces Dan Hooker in the main event of UFC Fight Night.

Catch UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Hooker tonight at 6pm et/3pm pt. On TSN1, TSN4, TSN5 and TSN Direct.

Poirier returns to the Octagon for the first time since his third-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title at UFC 242 last September in Abu Dhabi.

The 31-year-old was attempting to unify the belts, after capturing the interim title with a victory over Max Holloway at UFC 236 in April of 2019.

Poirier’s loss in the title challenge ended a four-fight winning streak built over some of the division’s best fighters, including current interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and former lightweight champions Anthony Pettis, and Eddie Alvarez.

The Lafayette, Louisiana native tells TSN that Hooker can put himself among the top lightweights on Saturday with a win, but that win will not be over him.

"He’s been looking good, he’s on a three-fight winning streak, he just won a main event, he went the distance with a vet,” Poirier told TSN. “He’s definitely on his way up, this is that fight for him. This is that fight where he gets to the next tier if he’s successful, but we ain’t letting that happen.”

Poirier holds a 25-6 professional MMA record with one no-contest.

Hooker is trying to fight his way into the crowded lightweight title picture and will attempt to extend that three-fight winning streak. He’s also had his hand raised in seven of his last eight bouts.

His last outing was a split decision victory over Paul Felder at Fight Night in Auckland, New Zealand in February. He also holds wins over Al Iaquinta and James Vick during his current streak.

Hooker tells TSN that he’s ready for the best Poirier has to offer, considering what happened to him in his title fight.

"Nothing sets a fire in a man like a loss, especially for a world title,” Hooker told TSN. “I can imagine myself in that position, being that close to what we all want and have it not go your way would really not sit right with me. I’d need to get that back and I’d need to make amends, so I know he’s going to come in hot and he’s going to come in incredibly motivated.”

Hooker holds a 10-4 record since joining the UFC.

In the co-main event, Mike Perry will try to reverse a two-fight losing streak when he faces Mickey Gall.

Perry lost to Geoff Neal via first round TKO in December at UFC 245 and dropped a split decision to Vicente Luque at Fight Night Uruguay last August.

The 28-year-old is 2-5 in his last seven fights.

His opponent in the welterweight bout Gall, comes in off a victory over Salim Touahri, but has alternated wins and losses in his last four outings with losses to Diego Sanchez and Randy Brown bookmarking a win over George Sullivan.

Gall is clearly the less experienced fighter in the matchup, but feels like his opponent might just be losing a step in the Octagon.

"I’m going to be prepared for the best Mike Perry, but if I really think about it, I think he’s been regressing,” Gall said at media day. “I know I’m getting a lot better and I think he’s on a downward slide, but I’ve been training hard, I’m peaking, and I’m ready for the best Mike Perry that’s ever been.”

Coming off an event where two Canadians picked up wins, heavyweight Tanner Boser will try to continue the streak as he faces Philipe Lins.

The Bonnyville, Alberta native comes into the bout off a loss to Ciryl Gane, after picking up a victory over Daniel Spitz in his UFC debut last October.

Boser told the Canadian Press that he’s ready for the atmosphere at the UFC Apex with no fans in attendance.

"Huge crowd, small crowd, no crowd. That stuff doesn't really get to me. I don't expect it to bother me," said Boser. "You'll have to think about things sightly differently. You don't want your corner to be yelling stuff out to you. The other guy's going to for sure hear it and his corner's going to hear it and be adjusting things."

Boser holds a 17-6-1 overall MMA record.

Lins is looking to bounce back from his last fight, a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Andrei Arlovski in his UFC debut. Prior to that, he was riding a four-fight winning streak, with victories over Josh Copeland, Jared Rosholt, Caio Alencar and Alex Nicholson all taking place in the Professional Fighters League.

Canadian Kyle Nelson was also supposed to compete at the UFC Apex on Saturday night, however he was pulled from his fight due to Visa issues.