Khabib Nurmagomedov gives his prediction for a potential Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski fight for the UFC lightweight championship.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov has given a rather interesting take on the potential matchup between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. Makhachev recently became the UFC lightweight champion after submitting Charles Oliveira in their championship matchup last weekend.
Since then, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding who’s going to fight Islam Makhachev for the belt. One name that looks the most likely to get the UFC lightweight championship shot is Alexander Volkanovski. The UFC featherweight champion is touted for a move up to the lightweight division and could be competing to become the double champion.
Speaking about the same during an interview with ESPN MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov gave his prediction for how the fight would play out. The Dagestani suggested that Islam Makhachev would choke Alexander Volkanovski and said: “Clinch, lotta knees, he’s gonna eat lotta knees. He’s gonna take his all energy, take him down, and he’s gonna choke him out. This is what I think. This is the way how I see how’s fight gonna go.”
Watch Khabib Nurmagomedov’s interview with ESPN MMA below:
As mentioned earlier, Islam Makhachev beat Charles Oliveira to become the UFC lightweight champion last week. While some would like to see the Brazilian fight for the title in a immediate rematch, that is very unlikely to happen.
The UFC usually makes immediate rematches for those fights which turn out to be very closely contested. However, that wasn’t the case with Makhachev vs. Oliveira. And because of the same reason, the Brazilian will have to fight someone else in the lightweight division to potentially earn a shot at the lightweight championship.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, Islam Makhachev would most likely face Alexander Volkanovski to defend his UFC lightweight championship. That said, it will be interesting to see if Charles Oliveira can work his way back up to a lightweight championship shot in the future or not.
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