Islam Makhachev believes Charles Oliveira is doubting his own chances of winning the vacant lightweight title at UFC 280
Makhachev, 30, has the chance to become a UFC champion for the first time on October 22 as he faces Oliveira for the vacant lightweight belt. Oliveira was supposed to be making his second title defence of his 155lb title against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274, but he was stripped of the belt despite winning the fight in the opening round as he missed weight by half a pound.
Oliveira is unbeaten in 11 fights heading into his clash with Makhachev, who has not lost in his past 10 fights. The Russian believes Oliveira was avoiding a fight with him after calling out the likes of Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor before the pair were booked to meet in Abu Dhabi.
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"I don't think so," Makhachev told ESPN when asked if Oliveira is confident he can beat him. "When he beat [Michael] Chandler, he never said my name. He called out Dustin Poirier, Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor out many times, but he never said my name.
"I'm a hard fight for everybody, I have always the same plan. Take them down, hold them, everybody knows this. This guy has a good win streak, I have a good win streak. That's what they put us together and it's a very interesting fight."
"I'm excited because all my life I've been training for this. I've spent many days and hours inside the gym and now it's almost there, the finish is very close. I don't know many fighters in the UFC who have experience like me, when I was young I had a lot of experience in the amateurs now I have over 20 professional fights. Of course, there's going to be more pressure for this fight, but I'm going to control this situation."
Meanwhile, Oliveira believes the arrogance of Makhachev and his team will be his downfall in their title fight, telling MMA Hoje : "They're being arrogant and that's what will kill them. The arrogance from their manager, former fighters, their arrogance will kill them. If they think they're going to come here and think this is a joke."
Makhachev's manager Ali Abdelaziz and coach Khabib Nurmagomedov played down the Brazilian's comments about being arrogant and both wished Oliveira the best of luck in the fight.
