Islam Makhachev, the UFC lightweight champion is all set to defend his title as he takes on Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier at New Jersey’s Prudential Center next month. While it looks like a cakewalk for Makhachev on paper, Poirier is one of those fighters who has been forged in fire, and his former foe and Makhachev’s buddy/mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov will be well aware of this.
The threat Poirier poses might be the reason why the undefeated fighter has got in a team of absolute killers to train Makhachev so that he can bring out his A-game against the veteran. Apart from the whole Dagestani camp, including Bellator lightweight champion, Usman Nurmagomedov, ‘The Eagle’ brought in UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad to up Makhachev’s game and seal the deal against ‘The Diamond’ in the 5-round banger.
Sharing the pictures on his social media, the former fighter revealed the whole camp including Muhammad with AKA’s head coach Javier Mendez and manager Ali Abdelaziz. Hence, even though Makhachev appeared cocky at one point, he is certainly not underestimating the Louisiana native.
On top of it, having Nurmagomedov on his side will be a huge bonus for Makhachev given that the undefeated fighter fought Poirier in 2019 and knows his game. In fact, the 32-year-old is so confident that he has even dropped a bold prediction ahead of the highly anticipated title bout.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s mentee predicts that he will ‘”finish” Poirier
Dustin Poirier didn’t think twice when he was offered another title shot after his stunning performance against the young lion, Benoit Saint-Denis. Poirier put the 27-year-old through the grinder and proved why he is called ‘The Diamond’ by stopping the Frenchman right in his track and knocking him out in R2.
With the #1 contender passing on the opportunity, Poirier did not let it slide. On the other hand, the lightweight champion is confident in his skills and claims that he has the veteran’s number. In fact, the confidence even pushed Makhachev to come out with a bold prediction.
In an exclusive to Yahoo Sports, he said,
“We will start and I will try to take him down. He will try to get me in a guillotine [choke]. I will defend the guillotine. I will give him a couple punches. He will give his back. Then I will finish.”
The plan is pretty basic for Makhachev who has absolute confidence in his skills if Poirier attempts a takedown. However, even though, the American tends to use the guillotine choke in every matchup, the champion shouldn’t overlook his crisp boxing that has laid out several champions including the former double champ Conor McGregor.
