“I don’t have pressure” – Islam Makhachev trashes Charles Oliveira’s coach’s attempts to get under his skin
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Islam Makhachev (L); Charles Oliveira and his coach Diego Lima (R-L)
A lot has been made of Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev’s upcoming title fight at UFC 280.
Considered by many to be the very best fighters in the 155 pound division, the Russian and the Brazilian clash head-on in what is expected to be an all out war.
The fight might begin late at night on Saturday, but the war of words began way before.
Earlier today, Charles Oliveira’s coach Diego Lima spoke to MMAJunkie about his pupil’s fight against Islam Makhachev. In the interview, he cited Khabib Nurmagomedov as putting pressure on Islam Makhachev, regarding the title, which could be detrimental to the Russian.
Now, Makhachev himself has come out and spoken about this comment by Oliveira’s coach. Speaking to the media, he said, “My team doesn’t have pressure, I don’t have pressure. His team has some pressure because he has a big team, I have a big team and already we beat two guys from his team… and Saturday night it’s going to be 3-0.”
The Russian’s words can be taken out of context to be inflammatory, but as is the nature of the fight game, Makachev attempted to be as objective as possible, dishing on not having any pressure to deal with.
Related- Alexander Volkanovski picks Islam Makhachev to triumph over Charles Oliveira in UFC 280’s main event
The apparent pressure being talked about is regarding Khabib Nurmagomedov’s unparalleled title reign that Islam Makhachev must live up to
While it may seem like Makhachev’s coach Javier Mendez and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov have verbally hyped him to a degree where it is unthinkable to lose, the real pressure comes from Khabib’s lightweight title reign.
Khabib Nurmagmedov is considered the greatest lightweight to have ever graced the UFC octagon, and one of the best fighters to have participated in the UFC, ever. The fashion in which Nurmagomedov went about dismantling his opponents was indomitable. He would use his wrestling to put immense pressure on his opponent, and then finish them on the ground.
That is, not to speak about the submission threat he presented. Khabib had three title defenses – against Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, and he finished all of them by submission. To add to that, he arguably never lost a single round.
No doubt, Islam Makhachev has a lot to live up to. Billed as Khabib’s rightful heir to the throne, the Russian has completely demolished everyone in his path, and along the way, lost only once.
Although Makhachev has rejected suggestions of pressure, we will only get to find this out when he takes on Charles Oliveira in the octagon in a couple of days from now.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)