Islam Makhachev predicts he will "get business" done against Charles Oliveira in the third round of their UFC 280 fight.
Makhachev, 30, has the chance to become a UFC champion next month as he faces Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title. Oliveira was supposed to be making the third defence of the lightweight belt at the Abu Dhabi event, but was stripped of the title after missing weight for his UFC 274 clash against Justin Gaethje in May, which he went on to win by first-round submission.
Oliveira is the betting underdog heading into the vacant title, despite having more experience than Makhachev. Oliveira also holds multiple UFC records such as the most submission wins and most finishes in promotional history.
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Makhachev has stopped his last four UFC opponents and predicts he will tire Oliveira out in the second round of their fight before finishing him in the third.
"First round warm up, second round drag him to deep water, third round get business done Inshallah," he tweeted. Makhachev's last two wins came in the first round, stopping Bobby Green with strikes in February and submitting Dan Hooker last October. The Russian is on a 10-fight unbeaten run, dating back to the only loss of his career when he was knocked out by Adriano Martins in 2015.
Makhachev thinks Oliveira has purposely been avoiding a fight with him, telling ESPN : "He's never said my name, he's called everyone out but me. I'm a hard fight for everybody, I have always the same plan for everybody. Take them down, hold them, everybody knows this. This guy has a good win streak, I have a good win streak. That's what they put us together and it's a very interesting fight."
Oliveira has felt insulted by comments made by Makhachev and members of his team in the lead up to their title fight, insisting their arrogance will come round to haunt them. "They're being arrogant and that's what will kill them," he said. "The arrogance from their manager, former fighters, their arrogance will kill them.
"If they think they're going to come here and think this is a joke, I'm going to tell you one thing No-one will ever hit me harder than life has hit me."
UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov has been coaching Makhachev since he retired from fighting last year and is confident his protege can follow in his footsteps by winning the lightweight title. Oliveira is convinced that if he beats Makhachev at UFC 280, it could lure Nurmagomedov out of retirement for a fight against him to avenge his teammate.
