Khabib Nurmagomedov expects Islam Makhachev to defend his light-weight title towards Dustin Poirier in convincing style at UFC 302.
Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC), a retired former 155-pound titleholder and a main coach for Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC), has been diligently making ready his athlete to face a earlier opponent of his personal in Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) on Saturday at Prudential Heart in Newark, N.J. (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Poirier comes into the battle as a sizeable underdog towards Makhachev, who’s No. 2 within the newest USA TODAY Sports activities/MMA Junkie pound-for-pound rankings. His likelihood is being dismissed by many, however given his previous expertise with “The Diamond,” Nurmagomedov is just not amongst that group.
“Many individuals underestimate Dustin Poirier,” Nurmagomedov mentioned on his YouTube channel. “I personally fought him, spent three rounds and over 10 minutes with him, and I’ve a great sense of his strengths and weaknesses. We’re working exhausting on these points.
“Dustin Poirier could be very skilled. He’s been in lots of battles already. Sure, he has misplaced, however he additionally has many victories within the UFC, greater than 22 or 23 wins. Utilizing our slang, he’s a seasoned warrior. You possibly can’t take him flippantly.”
Nurmagomedov defeated Poirier by third-round submission after they fought at UFC 242 in September 2019. That was Poirier’s first likelihood at an undisputed UFC title, and he misplaced the identical approach in his second bid at a belt towards Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 in December 2021.
Poirier, 35, has overtly admitted to being conscious that is nearly definitely his closing likelihood at an undisputed championship. That doubtless means he’s going to place all of it on the road contained in the cage, so Makhachev, 32, have to be ultra-cautious. His crew understands this, and Nurmagomedov mentioned that as long as Makhachev follows the ready technique from coaching camp, he’ll depart with a 3rd consecutive protection of his belt.
“We’ve nice respect for Dustin, however on June 1, he’s our opponent,” Nurmagomedov mentioned. “We’ve a clearly developed plan for the battle, and I consider Islam will comply with it. I actually hope that Islam will end him off within the second or third spherical.”
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