Islam Makhachev is firmly in the title picture and expects to fight Charles Oliveira sooner rather than later. He has his eye on becoming the UFC lightweight champion and he has not made it a secret.
The Russian lightweight recently spoke with ESPN and made his thoughts on Charles Oliveira clear. The UFC contender questions the heart of the Brazilian even after his past performances.
“He is same,” Makhachev said of Oliveira. “If someone comes like give him hard time, he’s gonna give up 100 percent. [Michael] Chandler dropped him down but nobody kept him there, make him a little bit tired, give him hard time.”
“He will just use his hands and want to give [his opponent] hard punch and tired after two, three minutes,” he added. “Everybody’s scared [of] his grappling but I don’t care about his grappling honestly because I grapple with the best grapplers in the world. I grapple with Khabib all my life that’s why I don’t care about his grappling…I know I’m gonna take him down…grappling is his area but I’m gonna finish him in his area…When I make him tired, I know 100 percent he’s gonna give up.”
Charles Oliveira is putting a lot of pressure on his opponents but Islam Makhachev is not worried about it. The UFC lightweight believes he has the right skill set to deal with anything the Brazilian has to offer.
“I think he’s gonna try to pressure me like how he did in last three, four fights but I don’t care, I have good judo style, I have good judo skills, I have good wrestling skills,” Makhachev pointed out. “When he try to pressure me, I just hold him and just take down. He has good striking, he has good knees, he has good kicks but my game plan, my skills is much better than him.”
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