Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez believes that Islam Makhachev is in danger of losing his next fight in a potential rematch.
Following his win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 this past weekend, Islam Makhachev made it clear that he wants to pursue a second belt and he is eyeing up a welterweight title fight next.
Despite that, UFC CEO, Dana White, said in the post-fight press conference that a fight between Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan will likely come next, with the Armenian having earned a title shot.
Eddie Alvarez believes Arman Tsarukyan is more beatable than Khabib Nurmagomedov
Although Makhachev and ‘Ahalkalakets’ have fought before, it was in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut in 2019, and since then the 27-year-old has made monumental improvements.
Former UFC lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, believes that Makhachev is more beatable than his coach and friend, Khabib Nurmagomedov, despite them being constantly compared.
“Islam is not Khabib, he doesn’t fight like Khabib. (Makhachev) takes more chances and more risks and relies on finishing guys, whereas Khabib just knew you weren’t going to be able to deal with him over time and he’d take you from 100% energy to 0 energy, then he would finish you,” told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
“Islam’s going to go for it and leave himself more vulnerable, but he’s more susceptible to getting beat than Khabib was,” Alvarez added.
Eddie Alvarez extremely confident that Arman Tsarukyan will beat Makhachev
Arman Tsarukyan once again showcased a dominant grappling style in his last fight against Charles Oliveira at UFC 300, taking home the decision win.
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After admitting that he believes Makhachev’s recent performances have shown that he is beatable, ‘The Underground King’ is backing Tsarukyan to pick up the win in a potential rematch.
“Arman beats him. I made that assumption right after (Makhachev’s fight against Poirier). If you’re able to match their wrestling just a little bit where they can’t dominate you and you can put them in a fight, you start to see they’re a little bit human.
“Islam won’t be the hammer the entire fight and we need to see how he deals with that because they’re always the hammer. Now that’s a fight, that’s a fight I want to see, I don’t know if (Makhachev’s team) want that fight, they don’t want that fight,” Alvarez explained.
Although Makhachev revealed his desire to fight for the welterweight title next, he quickly made it clear that if the UFC wanted him to rematch Tsarukyan first then he would do so.
‘Ahalkalakets’ was originally offered the opportunity to fight the Russian this past weekend at UFC 302, but he turned it down as he wanted longer to prepare, after having fought two months prior.
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