The upcoming UFC 302 main eventer, Dustin Poirier’s’ UFC 299 performance bore testimony to his phenomenal striking once more. Poirier displayed immense character as he KO-ed his rival, Benoit Saint-Denis, in the second round. But Poirier’s upcoming rival and the current UFC lightweight champ, Islam Makhachev, is well aware of his lethal striking capabilities. Recently, ‘Championship Rounds’ posted an ‘X’ update showcasing Makhachev sharpening his striking skills for his upcoming encounter. Despite this, fans in the comments section remained unconvinced of its significance in the fight.
A few days back, Makhachev’s former rival, Arman Tsarukyan, caught up with the noted UFC persona Daniel Cormier and analyzed the upcoming Makhachev vs. Poirier encounter. Amidst his expressions, ‘Ahalkalkets’ opined that Makhachev would avoid getting into a striking showdown with Poirier during their fight.
But, the ‘Championship Rounds’ update revealed that Makhachev didn’t have any such thoughts, as he was training to match Poirier’s striking.
However, the comments section of the post showcased that there were two primary reasons behind the fans deriding Makhachev’s “boxing” training sessions. Some followers opined that the Dagestani would get out-struck by ‘The Diamond’ even after all of this training.
The other chunk implied that he would mostly resort to grappling during their fight, rendering his boxing training useless.
One of the comments read, “He ain’t out boxing The Diamond.”
Another follower vented out the same opinion about Islam Makhachev by writing, “if he tries he’s getting slept lol dustin aint no amatuer.”
Several fans also shared Arman Tsarukyan’s narrative to deride Makhachev’s boxing training. One such comment read, “We all know the second they get close, he’ll dive for the legs. He got dropped by Volk, buddy, he won’t stand with Dustin.”
One more fan gave out a similar expression. His comment read, “He’s training this boxing to take down DP and submit him”
But there can be no doubt about the fact that Makhachev is putting his heart and soul into his training camp for Poirier. His coach, Javier Mendez, is also providing him with unwavering support.
The American Kickboxing Academy head honcho took a huge risk recently just to attend and help Makhachev with his training.
Javier Mandez risked the UAE floods to join the training camp of Islam Makahchev
Mendez’s journey to Makhachev’s training camp in Abu Dhabi via Dubai should’ve been a smooth one. But Mother Nature had different plans. The country of UAE received a record amount of rainfall since April 15, triggering floods in several parts of the country, including the major city of Dubai.
Khabib and Islam Makhachev’s coach witnessed the flooded Dubai personally during those days. However, he didn’t let the floods stop his way to Abu Dhabi, even after admitting that he felt scared of the situation. Hence, it will be pretty interesting to witness if Makhachev and Mendez’s efforts prove to be sufficient to earn the Dagestani another UFC lightweight title defense on June 1.
