Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Charles
Oliveira is not buying into Islam
Makhachev’s perceived bluster.
On Wednesday, Makhachev called his shots on social
media, where he stated his preferred upcoming schedule.
According to the champion, his first appearance would be on June 8
against Justin
Gaethje, then he wanted to return in November in New York City
against the winner of Charles
Oliveira and Arman
Tsarukyan. After that, he would make another defense in
February 2025 against anyone. Count Oliveira among those that do
not believe things will play out as Makhachev has planned.
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The reason for Makhachev’s late start to the year was two-fold: he
sustained an injury, and Ramadan will be taking place from March 10
to April 9 in 2024. This meant that the Dagestan native would need
some time to rehab his injuries and train properly, thus the June
start time. Oliveira does not buy it, and on Thursday, he explained
why to
Ag. Fight.
“What came to us is that Islam got injured, he will only be able to
fight towards the end of the year, practically, middle of the
year,” Oliveira remarked. “I really can’t say. They told me he’s
coming back from an injury…The fact is that this fight doesn’t even
make sense to happen. How is he going to fight Gaethje in June if
it was just said by [UFC President] Dana [White] himself that the
winner of Charles and Arman is the guy who will fight for the
title? So, in reality, I believe he is just doing some kind of
marketing game.”
Oliveira’s coach, Diego Lima, took it a step further. He told
Sherdog on Friday that he thinks Makhachev is buying time or
possibly even avoiding the man Makhachev submitted to win the
lightweight belt in October 2022.
“I want to make it clear that we have total respect for Makhachev,”
Lima stated, “but he definitely doesn’t want to fight Charles. The
fact is that the UFC knows that this fight is the one that makes
sense. And Charles will show that, winning his next challenge and
having a totally different fight than the first one with
Makhachev.”