The former UFC champ-champ, Daniel Cormier’s fight analysis skills caused the UFC to employ him as one of their official analysts. However, Cormier recently put his analysis skills to the test outside the UFC and elected the current UFC lightweight king, Islam Makhachev, as the most likely UFC champion to have a long reign over his division. ‘DC’ appeared with the noted UFC bantamweight, Cory Sandahagen, and the ESPN reporter, Brett Okamoto, in his latest YouTube video where he made this revelation.
Makhachev has been compared to his bosom friend and UFC icon, Khabib Nurmagomedov, multiple times. One part of the UFC community believes that he is equally potent as his friend, who holds an undefeated pro-MMA record and is one of the most respected fighters in the history of the promotion.
However, another chunk of the community refutes such claims. They often point out that it’s too early to compare the two since Makhachev hasn’t defended his title even once against a regular UFC lightweight. ‘DC’ words implied that he belonged to the first section of people mentioned here. He said,
“So many of the guys that he’s going to fight have fought each other, and the way he beat Charles needs me to believe that he has the best opportunity.”
Currently, Charles ‘Du Bronx’ Oliveira stands as the top UFC lightweight contender after all the top 5 UFC lightweights battling each other. But Makhachev has already beaten him once at UFC 280. This is what made Cormier believe that the Dagestani has enough to beat any other current UFC lightweight and continue his reign over the division for a prolonged period.
But the current scenario of the division indicates that the 32-year-old has already chosen his next rival. Although nothing has been confirmed about the fight as of now, lots of fans may have already started speculating about how the fight may go.
Will Islam Makahchev be able to defeat his next rival, as per Daniel Cormier’s prediction?
Islam Makhachev was impressed by former UFC interim lightweight champ, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier’s performance at UFC 299. He even congratulated the Lafayette native with an ‘X’ update. However, the subsequent events promoted Poirier as Makhachev’s next probable rival. It’s needless to say both of these fighters pack enough skills to get the better of the other.
But, most would elect Makhachev as the fighter with a better all-round game. A look at his UFC 280 and UFC 294 performances says that he is an incredible grappler who also boasts awesome striking skills. On the other hand, ‘The Diamond’ has often got into trouble with his ground game. His performances against Makhachev’s pal, Khabib, and ‘Du Bronx’ Oliveira indicate that his ground game isn’t as developed as Makhachev’s.
However, most fans and pundits, including Cormier, may agree that Poirier’s striking is a lot more developed than his probable rival. Hence, even a couple of clean strikes from ‘The Diamond’, like he did against Benoit Saint-Denis, can be enough to debunk ‘DC’s’ prediction about Makhachev.
