Eddie Alvarez thinks Arman Tsarukyan is the one to dethrone UFC light-weight champion Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) retained his title with a fifth-round submission of Dustin Poirier on this previous Saturday’s UFC 302 headliner at Prudential Heart in Newark, N.J.
When evaluating Makhachev to his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alvarez says Makhachev’s danger taking is what makes him extra beatable than Nurmagomedov.
“Islam shouldn’t be Khabib, he doesn’t combat like Khabib,” Alvarez mentioned on The MMA Hour. “He takes extra probabilities, he takes extra dangers and depends on ending guys, the place Khabib simply knew you weren’t going to have the ability to cope with him over time and he’d take you from 100% power to 0 power, after which he would end you.
“Islam’s going to go for it, he’s going to go away himself extra susceptible so he’s a bit of bit funner to observe, however he’s extra prone to getting beat than Khabib was.”
Makhachev mentioned he’s extra all in favour of difficult for the welterweight title than rematching Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), whom he beat in April 2019. That was simply Tsarukyan’s UFC debut, and the 27-year-old has since gone 9-1.
Alvarez thinks Makhachev and his group are avoiding Tsarukyan. The previous UFC light-weight champion additionally sees Tsarukyan having the ability to withstand Makhachev’s wrestling, and even picked him to win – particularly after seeing Poirier fend off quite a few of Makhachev’s takedown makes an attempt.
“Arman beats him,” Alvarez mentioned. “I made that assumption proper after the (Poirier) combat. All people Khabib defended in opposition to, he had what I name the state-grappling benefit. The hole within the grappling benefit was so excessive, and he dominated these guys. … For those who’re capable of match their wrestling a bit of bit the place they will’t dominate you and you’ll put them in a combat, you begin to see they’re a bit of bit human.”
“Arman, due to his wrestling background, he’s going to have the ability to cease the shot. He could even take Islam down a bit of bit. Islam received’t be the hammer all the combat, and we have to see how he offers with that as a result of they’re all the time the hammer.”
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