Former undisputed middleweight champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Michael Bisping has called for a title rematch between Islam Makhachev and Brazilian favorite, Charles Oliveira later this year – hoping for a victory for the latter, in order to set up a trilogy rubber match between the duo.
First meeting back in the main event of UFC 280 back in October of last year in Abu Dhabi, UAE – Oliveira saw his division-best 12-fight winning streak come to a crashing halt, dropping a second round arm-triangle submission loss in the pair’s vacant lightweight title fight.
However, returning to the Octagon last weekend in the co-main event of UFC 289 in Vancouver, Canada – Oliveira secured a stunning win over the streaking, Beneil Dariush, stopping the Iranian with a slew of opening round ground strikes in ‘The Great White North’
Immediately calling for a title rematch with Makahchev in the wake of his victory against Dariush, Oliveira’s suggestion was supported by UFC president, Dana White, who admitted that he was excited to see the duo fight once more.
Michael Bisping hopes for trilogy between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira
And according to UFC color-commentator, Michael Bisping, the Manchester veteran would relish the opportunity to see a rematch – leaning toward a win for Brazilian fan-favorite finisher, Oliveira.
“Currently, the wins that he (Charles Oliveira) has on his winning streak are better than Islam’s (Makhachev),” Michael Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “But still, who cares? Because Islam beat him inside the Octagon and he is the champion of the goddamn world.”
“Who wins? The way Charles fights and walks his opponents down is very, very dangerous,” Bisping explained. “However, that allows him to get caught. That’s why he’s lost against Islam. That’s why he has so many finishes but it’s also why he lost some fights back in the past. So I don’t know. It could go down the exact same way or we could see ‘and new’ we could see Charles Oliviera. And I would love to see that. I would love to see that because we get a trilogy and that would just be phenomenal. It really would.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
Successfully defending the undisputed lightweight title back in February at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia – Makhachev landed a unanimous decision win over his featherweight counterpart, Alexander Volkanovski.