"He's smarter than Khabib" - Former opponent explains why Islam Makhachev won't take Charles Oliveira down
Islam Makhachev's former opponent Davi Ramos is of the view that the Dagestani won't try to take Charles Oliveira down during their upcoming fight.
Oliveira and Makhachev are set to share the octagon in a lightweight title clash that will headline UFC 280 on October 22.
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Both Oliveira and Makhachev are world-class grapplers. With that in mind, there's been a lot of talk about whether it'd be a smart idea for the Russian to take the fight to the ground against the man who has the most submissions in UFC history.
According to Ramos, Makhachev is a smart fighter and won't make the mistake of taking Oliveira down during their fight. Ramos, who lost to Makhachev via unanimous decision at UFC 242, also hailed his former opponent as a smarter fighter than the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov.
During an appearance on Brazilian podcast Connect Cast, Ramos said:
"He won't take Charles down because he's smarter than Khabib. Taking Islam down is very difficult. I have watched his fights. [Apart from] his fight with Thiago Moises, who was the guy who took him down, got one takedown, if you watch all his UFC fights, no one ever took him down." (Translation courtesy - Brazilian MMA Fighters)
Watch clips from the podcast below:
Davi Ramos explains why Charles Oliveira might struggle to land strikes on Islam Makhachev at UFC 280
Davi Ramos also believes that Charles Oliveira will have a tough time trying to land strikes on Islam Makhachev in their upcoming clash.
Although he managed to land several significant strikes against his recent opponents before putting them away, Ramos feels that it will be difficult for Oliveira to repeat that against Makhachev.
He explained that unlike Oliveira's recent opponents, namely Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje, Makhachev is a counter striker and won't expose himself trying to charge forward, making it difficult for Oliveira to breach his defense and land meaty shots.
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He further added that if Oliveira leaves himself vulnerable by trying to charge forward and land strikes, he could get countered by Makhachev.
"He is a tough guy to takedown and he doesn't move forward so it will be harder to land a shot because he's a counter striker. If you move too much towards him, you can be counter striked."