UFC light-weight champion Islam Makhachev is giving Dustin Poirier excessive reward forward of their title struggle.
Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) defends his title in opposition to Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 302 (pay-per-view/ESPN2/ESPN+) headliner at Prudential Heart in Newark, N.J.
Poirier, a former interim light-weight champion, will try to seize undisputed gold for the third time. His knockout end of Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March tied Drew Dober for probably the most in light-weight historical past.
“To start with, I wish to say that Dustin is among the legends of our sport,” Makhachev mentioned in Episode 2 of his coaching camp VLOG. “He’s somebody who will undoubtedly be inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame. He has been by way of many powerful fights, many title fights, fought for the BMF title, and fought for the UFC title a number of occasions. Whether or not he loses or wins, he’ll all the time be a problem for everybody.”
Certainly one of Poirier’s title losses got here to Makhachev’s mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, by submission in September 2019. They’ve now switched roles, with Nurmagomedov being the one to lend a serving to hand in coaching camp.
“I believe this struggle might be useful for us to assessment and construct a plan collectively,” Makhachev mentioned. “When Khabib was getting ready for him, we skilled collectively, and I used to be already concerned within the dialogue of the struggle preparation plan in opposition to Dustin. I don’t suppose the preparation and plan for the struggle will differ a lot as a result of we all know Dustin’s strengths and weaknesses.”
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