Midnight Mania! Oliveira Can’t Be The Undisputed Champ Until He Beats Islam

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

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Officially, Lightweight is without a champion at the minute due to Charles Olive…


UFC 272: Holland v Oliveira
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Officially, Lightweight is without a champion at the minute due to Charles Oliveira’s half-pound weight miss, which may or may not be BS depending upon who you ask. Despite the technicality, a wide portion of the fan base still considers “Do Bronx” the Lightweight king given his recent finishes of Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler, as well as his current 12-fight win streak.

Surprisingly, even retired Lightweight great Khabib Nurmagomedov agrees with that view. He does, however, offer one caveat: Oliveira has to defeat his team mate, Islam Makhachev, in order to claim “undisputed” champion status.

“If Charles wins against Islam, we have to give him credit,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN (via MMAJunkie). “Then he’s going to be undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Right now, I believe he’s champion. I believe even this. People talk about the half-pound. I believe he deserved it. Right now, in this moment, he deserved to be champion. He’s doing a very good job, you know? But he’s not undisputed. When I finished, I was undisputed.”

Nurmagomedov has been lobbying very hard for his team mate. Each and every time there’s a major fight at 155 lbs. or Makhachev picks up another victory, Khabib is on Twitter demanding a title shot for his fellow Sambo specialist. For his part, Makhachev has repeatedly called for a fight vs. Oliveira in Abu Dhabi, which would be something of a homefield advantage for Makhachev.

Nurmagomedov is willing to head to Brazil, however, and he’s predicting a finish on the mat.

“It was me. Now, it will become Islam,” Nurmagomedov said. “This is like father told. He say, ‘Last 10 years, best lightweight in the world, this is my students.’ This is how my father told. ‘When Khabib going to finish, Islam going to come.’ OK, if they want Brazil, no problem. We’re going to come to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, no problem. We’re going to come there two weeks before the fight, rent some big house, come with big team, make weight (not like Charles Oliveira). We’re going to make weight.

“We’re going to finish Charles Oliveira on his game, on the ground – on the ground, on Brazilian land,” Nurmagomedov said. “We’re going to teach all fans what is top control, how we finish people. We’re going to get the belt and go back. We’re going to take some big hugs from Brazilian fans. They’re going to love Islam’s ground game.”

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