Islam Makhachev claims Charles Oliveira might duck him to fight either Nate Diaz or Conor McGregor
Top UFC lightweight contender Islam Makhachev recently claimed that former UFC Champion Charles Oliveira may skip him to fight either Nate Diaz or Conor McGregor.
According to Makhachev, 'Do Bronx' is well aware that his grappling skills will not be effective against the Russian. Hence, he would try to avoid him in order to match up with someone with whom he can be more effective.
The Russian contender also stated that the Brazilian's recent opponents, despite being excellent strikers, were ineffective against his ground game and thus no one could 'hold' him.
Appearing in a recent interview with ESPN MMA's Brett Okamoto, the 30-year-old had this to say:
"I know this, someone or Nate Diaz or Conor say let's do it in September, he [Charles Oliveira] is gonna fight in September too. He just run, you know. Because you know, he's grappling on or other his skills not gonna working with me... Poirier or Chandler or all these guys have good striking but nobody when they drop him [Charles Oliveira] down... nobody go to the grappling with him. Nobody hold him there. But we know when someone give him hard time. He always give up."
Confident in his ground game, Makhachev has claimed that the story won't be the same if the Brazilian plans to fight against him. Speaking of how, he would successfully defeat Oliveira, the sambo world champion said:
"I'm gonna take him down and make him tired and he gonna give up like he did 10 time in UFC."
You can check out Islam Makhachev discuss Chares Oliveira in the video below:
Islam Makhachev keen on proving himself at lightweight before climbing up to welterweight
Islam Makhachev appears to be quite ambitious. He recently revealed his plans to compete at 155 pounds and win division gold before stepping up to the welterweight division of the promotion.
In the same interview, the Makhachkala native stated that once he becomes the division champ, he plans to defend his title at least five to six times. He said:
"Before I go to welterweight, I'm gonna defend this belt a minimum of five to six times because I want to show all people who talk too much who [is the] champion here, who [is the] most dominant champion because I finished my last four opponents in 11 months."