“Finish him there” – Islam Makhachev believes he holds the key to beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280
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Islam Makhachev (L), Charles Oliveira (R)
Islam Makhachev is labelled as Khabib Nurmagomedov’s bonafide heir to the throne. However, he must first get past Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, to truly live up to the plaudits.
Charles Oliveira has been dropped each time in his last three bouts, wherein he was fighting for the belt twice. To make it clear, he missed weight against Justin Gaethje and was stripped of the title. Another common denominator is the fact that Oliveira was written off by many in each of those three fights. The Brazilian, however, is no slouch.
The last three fights, in question, came against Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and most recently, Justin Gaethje. Each time, after getting dropped, Charles Oliveira wrangled back to unearth victory from the hands of defeat. He TKO’d Chandler and submitted Poirier and Gaethje. It seems like beating Oliveira is an insurmountable task right now.
The next challenger for the now vacant belt, Islam Makhachev, doesn’t believe so. Speaking about the strength of his skillset, he said, “His last three or four opponents, they knock him down and nobody goes to grappling. Nobody tried to finish him there. Nobody tried to do some ground-and-pound. That’s why nobody from these opponents could stop him.” [H/T The National]
Continuing, he said, “Because this guy has most finishes in the UFC, my goal is I have to finish him. I’m going to take his record.”
Islam Makhachev’s forte is his superb ground game. A quick look at his resume serves to show exactly that. Speaking about his last four fights; he submitted Drew Dober, Thiago Moises and Dan Hooker, before winning via ground and pound versus Bobby Green.
Islam Makhachev can restore Dagestani dominance to the lightweight division
Islam Makhachev, despite his words of confidence as to how to go about beating Charles Oliveira, will have a mammoth task at his hands.
However, Makhachev also has a few advantages going into the fight. Firstly, he will be fighting in Abu Dhabi, which is as close to home base as can be. Undoubtedly, most of the fans there will be cheering for him. Secondly, Makhachev has long been hailed the heir to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
When Khabib retired in 2020, there wasn’t any question as to who the greatest lightweight of all time was. The answer was quite clear. Not only had Nurmagomedov maintained a perfect MMA record of 29-0, but he had also gone about it unabashedly. Arguably, he never lost a round. His biggest wins include the submissions of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.
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Despite the single blemish on his record, that of the defeat to Adriano Martins in 2015, Islam Makhachev has maintained an eerily similar level of dominance in his fights so far. Relying on his salient grappling, Makhachev also can throw around in the centre of the octagon.
If Makhachev does indeed win, he can quite possibly usher in the second reign of Dagestani dominance in the division that Khabib once called his own. With the now-retired Russian in his corner, Makhachev has all the support he can need to get the belt wrapped around his waist.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)