Charles Oliveira has been warned that he should not prepare to find a win from his back against Islam Makhachev despite his jiu-jitsu background.
Oliveira is a third-degree black belt and will be the best grappler Makhachev has had to deal with in his entire career when the pair square off at UFC 280. The vacant lightweight title will be on the line after the Brazilian was stripped, but for all intents and purposes he is still the champion.
But UFC legend Chael Sonnen, a famous wrestler in his day around the top rankings at middleweight and light-heavyweight, has told Oliveira that he will be losing the fight if he gets too comfortable off his back. MMA judges can be known to ignore the success that a jiu-jitsu expert is having and wrongly score in favour the on in a dominant position.
And Sonnen believes could cost him, saying on his YouTube channel : "When I hear that Charles is comfortable on the ground, let me just stop you right there. Because nobody is - I come to you with a black belt in jiu-jitsu, I understand the sport I've been in that position and I have had to protect myself. Nobody wants to be underneath.
"When I tell you that nobody wants to be on bottom that is not figurative, there's not somebody out there who's going to be the first! Nobody wants to be on bottom, bottom is not good! If somebody is so good that they can nullify you then go ahead and nullify me for 25 minutes! If I'm on top and you're on bottom I win and you don't.
"I'm truly interested in Oliveira's strategy when he gets down, I would know that if I was in the room with him right now. If he is practicing being on bottom and he's trying to find a kimura or a triangle, he's not going to win this fight, If Charles Oliveira on bottom is planning to get to an underhook, opposite hip, stand up, or planning to slip out the back, arm drag, hit a reversal, we're having a totally different conversation.
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"I know Charles himself said, 'I'll start this fight on my back.' That would be a really bad idea. It would be a terrible idea to ever concede that position. Because every second that you are there, you're losing and there's not a judge licensed under the ABC banner who will tell you different."
Sonnen is referencing an MMA Fighting podcast appearance in which Oliveira offered to start the fight on his back as one would in a jiu-jitsu tournament. The Brazilian is so confident that he can overcome Makhachev's grinding wrestling that he believes he would win solely off his back.
“Want to start the fight on the ground?" Oliveira offered in the July interview. "I’ll start playing guard. It won’t make any difference to me. Again, I’m telling everyone this, I’m the division’s biggest problem and you’re not understanding. I don’t care who it is and when it is. If you want to trade on the feet, come for it, I have firepower in my hands. If you want to take me down, do it.”
