Watch: Islam Makhachev takes down Olympic silver medalist while preparing for a fight against Charles Oliveira
The contest to determine the undisputed lightweight champion of the world goes down at UFC 280 when Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev clash in the main event. Both fighters are riding on impressive win streaks and the matchup makes up for an exciting contest between two grappling elites.
Islam is a much more refined striker than his teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov, and has some beautiful kicks and striking skills in his arsenal. The Dagestani is the dark horse of the lightweight division with a ten-fight win streak. Although he does not possess the finish rate that Charles does, he still remains dominant in his fights, and maintains composure of the highest degree, something which will come in handy if he faces the Brazilian.
Makhachev sat down with ESPN correspondent Brett Okamoto, and discussed about his future plans, Oliveira’s streak, and how he has had a hard time finding fights with guys ducking him. Okamoto brought up an interesting question asking Makhachev how many times would Charles submit him if they fought a hundred times. Makhachev replied by saying, “Hey brother, honestly I’ve grappled with many black belts, very high level jiu-jitsu guys, but I can’t remember the last time when somebody give me submission. I’ve grappled with ADCC champions, I don’t wanna name them, but they know my grappling skills. And this people know Oliveira can never submit me“
Most recently a video of him drilling wrestling exchanges from the clinch surfaced on the internet. Makhachev was training with Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov- a Russian-naturalized Belarusian freestyle wrestler. He holds the distinction of being the silver medalist at the Olympics Tokyo 2020 in men’s 74 kg, 2020 European Champion at 79kg and 2017 Russian National Champion at 70kg.
It’s an impressive video that has come to light when promotions for the fight are intensifying by the day.
Teammate Deron Winn reacts to the video of Islam Makhachev taking down an Olympic silver medalist
Deron Winn is an American mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestler who is currently signed with the UFC, fighting in the middleweight division. He trains alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev at the American Kickboxing Academy.
Winn responded to the video by pointing out how impressive the video actually is:
“This is low-key wild lol and I’m sure you could say I’m bias but this dude is an Olympic silver medalist.. not many people in the world can take him down.”
When a fan pointed out that Kadimagomedov was probably 20 lbs. lighter than Makhachev, Winn wrote:
“No he does not! 74kg = 163 pounds. Majority of wrestlers are only that weight on the day of competition. He probably weighs 175-180 in this video. People will say anything lol.”
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