Islam Makhachev doesn’t think Charles Oliveira truly believes he can beat him when they collide at UFC 280.
For many years now, Islam Makhachev has been seen as the heir to the lightweight throne with many believing he can follow in the footsteps of his close friend and training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov. Of course, those are pretty big shoes to fill, but Makhachev hasn’t been shy when making his mark on just about everyone he’s fought inside the Octagon.
Now, at UFC 280 in October, he’ll get his chance to finally be called the UFC lightweight champion when he battles Charles Oliveira in the Abu Dhabi main event.
The belt is currently vacant as a result of Charles missing weight before his last fight, but in the eyes of most fans and pundits, ‘Do Bronx’ is the man to beat at 155 pounds.
During a recent interview, Islam provided an interesting perspective when discussing Oliveira and what kind of threat he poses.
“I don’t think [he believes he can win]. Because, you know, when he beat Chandler, he never say my name, you know? He say Dustin Poirier, but he never say my name. Nate Diaz, he called [out] Nate Diaz. He called [out] Conor [McGregor] many times, but never said my name.”
“He knows it’s gonna be — I am hard fight for everybody because I have always same plan: take them down, hold him there, [smash]. I am terrible fight for everybody. Everybody knows this.”
The Oliveira chronicles
Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje.
That five-fight stretch of wins is what has truly established Charles Oliveira as the new lightweight king and even though he doesn’t technically have the belt at this moment in time, you’d best believe he feels like the champion.
Oliveira has a big chip on his shoulder with his aim being to silence every single doubter that has dismissed him as one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport.
He may not be the favourite on Fight Island and he may wind up on the losing side, but one thing is for sure - he isn’t going to go quietly into the night.