“He is not crowd-pleasing” Eugene Bareman doubts if Islam Makhachev will fight Charles Oliveira for the title next
Follow Us
Eugene Bareman talks about Islam Makhachev's fighting style
With no real champion in the 155-pound division, the lightweight division looks very interesting right now. Islam Makhachev vs Charles Oliveira is the fight that is the favorite to be next for the title but City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman is very doubtful of that matchup.
Islam Makhachev is the favorite to be the next champ of the lightweight division according to many but Charles Oliveira stands in the way of that gold. Despite missing weight in his last championship fight, Oliveira is guaranteed to fight for the vacant title next, according to UFC boss Dana White. While most fans want to see Islam vs Charles, including Eugene, the coach is very skeptical if Islam’s “ground-and-pound” style of fighting will be entertaining to all the fans.
While Islam continues to show his dominance in the octagon with his 10-fight winning streak, the likes of other money-fight opportunities for Charles surely raise a doubt in Eugene if the UFC will actually make the fight happen. The City Kickboxing head coach talks to Submission Radio in an interview about the chances of Islam getting the title shot against Oliveira next.
“Should Islam be the next person that challenges for the title? You know, he probably does deserve it, but whether he’s getting that title shot is another thing,” said Eugene talking to Submission Radio in a recent interview.
“UFC is a business” Eugene on why Islam Makhachev could be sidelined from the title shot
“The UFC is a business and it’s a business of making fans sell tickets to watch fights and Islam doesn’t have the most crowd-pleasing style,” says Bareman about Islam’s style of fighting. Islam is known to be the successor of great former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The styles of the two fighters are very similar and some actually rate Makhachev’s striking to be higher than that of Khabib’s.
“His road to the title is just to keep winning and winning and winning and eventually you just can’t deny him.” Eugene has in the past praised the work ethic of fighters from the region of Dagestan like Khabib, Islam, and others. According to the City Kickboxing coach, their work ethic is far superior to that of other UFC fighters currently and Islam will sooner or later achieve success.
Watch the full interview of Eugene with Submission Radio below:
Stay Updated!
Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)