Islam Makhachev poses on the scale, weighing in during the UFC 208 weigh-in inside Kings Theater on February 10, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York.(Photo by Anthony Geathers/Getty Images)
Islam Makhachev impressed many, including Dana White, at UFC 259
Drew Dober vs Islam Makhachev was an interesting fight at UFC 259. One reason why was due to the hype surrounding Makhachev.
The Russian is hailed as the next big thing and a possible replacement for Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Eagle was also beside Makhachev as he did some coaching and it was an easy win for the Russian.
Khabib and Islam have trained for years together and their coach, Javier Mendez also shared how different the two are.
Mendez also said that Makhachev is the only one to have beaten Khabib in training, and the 29-year-old dominated Dober right from the first second.
Makhachev got the win in the third round as he submitted Dober, and the American didn’t really do much to trouble the Russian.
Dana White was asked about Makhachev after the fight and the UFC president brought up a ton of praise for the rising star:
“He put on a great performance against a very tough, durable guy.
“The choke that he pulled off tonight was ridiculous. I don’t know if you guys saw what I saw.
“When he was squeezing his neck, there were muscles popping out of his f***** neck and shoulders that I have never seen before, didn’t even know they existed. Which is pretty crazy because you look at Drew Dober, that’s a solid, tough, strong guy.
“Pretty bad***.”
Makhachev was already looking forward to his next fight and called out Tony Ferguson. El Cucuy and Khabib have a long history but they have never met.
Ali Abdelaziz has tried to set up Makhachev and Ferguson in the past and White also believed this would be a great clash.
Makhachev continued by saying that he would retire Ferguson and it will be interesting to see if this is set up.
El Cucuy has lost his last two fights. However, he is still a dangerous opponent and can defeat anyone on his day.
Makhachev needs to fight someone in the top 10. The UFC seems to have their Khabib replacement ready and if the Russian continues like this, he could be a future champion too.
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