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Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev is set to headline UFC 280 on October 22, and expert analyst Dominick Cruz has his breakdown on who will walk away from Abu Dhabi with the vacant lightweight title.
Cruz wasn't willing to boil things down to a definitive winner. Instead, he laid out the conditions in which Oliveira could win and those which favored Makhachev. During an Instagram Live video, he said:
"I think that Oliveira has the best chance to finish the fight, so in the first three rounds I think he can finish it. But if it goes the distance, I think Makhachev wins it because he has the best chance of winning a decision."
"In the early days of [Oliveira's] career, the way he would lose, you would defend his submissions and keep him on his back and ride the clock and ground and pound. Or land big shots on the feet, then take him down and not get submitted. If you could survive the onslaught of his ground game, then you could ride him out to a decision. So if it goes five rounds, I think Makhachev has the style to stay out of submissions, stay on top, and blanket Oliveira and shut down a lot of his submission game."
Cruz added that Oliveira has evolved significantly from the 'Do Bronx' that struggled early in his UFC career. 'The Dominator' credited that to him bulking up in size, committing more to his striking game while on the feet, and using his opponents' fear of his ground game to throw big strikes from 'reckless' positions.
Watch Dominick Cruz discuss Oliveira vs. Makhachev at UFC 280 below:
Dana White warns Islam Makhachev that Charles Oliveira is "no walkover"
Since his retirement from active competition, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been treating Islam Makhachev's rise to UFC lightweight champ as an inevitability. At UFC 280 Makhachev will get his chance to make his friend and coach's prophecy a reality, but it won't be easy.
During a press conference for Dana White's Contender Series, the UFC president warned that beating 'Do Bronx' was no trivial matter. He said:
"Khabib has said for a very long time that Islam Makhachev is the best in the world. He's going to be the next world champion, he's gonna dominate that division the way that he did. You gotta get through Charles Oliveira first. Charles Oliveira is no walkover."
Watch Dana White discuss Oliveira vs. Makhachev below:
