Dustin Poirier may be a beast on the feet, but Islam Makhachev is a beast on the ground, and that’s where he plans on taking their UFC 302 fight.
Islam Makhachev is looking forward to an easy fight against his UFC 302 opponent Dustin Poirier.
The lightweight champion has a lot of respect for “Diamond,” but at the same time he believes he’s stylistic poison for Poirier. His ground game is just too strong, and that will carry him through their June 1st showdown in Newark, New Jersey.
“Dustin, he is a warrior, legend, he have more than anybody, experience in this sport,” Makhachev told TMZ Sports in a new interview. “His problem is his style. That’s the one problem this guy has. His weak point is wrestling and grappling. And I have the key for the easy fight, and if I follow the plan, I can beat him easy.”
“My style and Khabib’s style, it’s worst style for this guy, Dustin. People that can take him down, hold him there, always give him problems.”
Islam gave Poirier his props for stepping up and fighting him, considering there was no one else ready after the lightweight contender eliminator round we witnessed at UFC 300.
“Dustin is a good opponent because Oliveira, Arman [Tsarukyan], I already beat these guys already,” he said. “My dream fight for this division is Gaethje, but he lose already. Right now in this division, we just have Dustin because Arman said no, Gaethje lose, Oliveira lose. We don’t have someone.”
“Honestly, my dream fight is for the second belt at 170,” Makhachev added. “I don’t know who is gonna be there. Now we have champion Leon Edwards. About BMF, I don’t need this belt. I don’t know what is this belt, for what? And I’m not under-estimating Poirier because this guy’s a legend, he have better than everybody striking, in my division, in this sport. I prepare myself for this tough fight.”
His message to Poirier for UFC 302?
“Dustin: be ready and wrestle a lot,” he said before joking, “I defend my neck, I’m ready for your guillotine. It’s not happening in our fight, but I will be ready.”