Charles Oliveira is ensuring that his takedown defense is on point when he locks horns with Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 for their lightweight championship bout.
Grappling purists are charmed by the prospect of an intriguing clash of styles between the two wizards in their respective disciplines.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s famous quote, ‘If sambo was easy, it would be called jiu-jitsu’, serves as the perfect setup for the narrative of this fight.
Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira holds the pre-eminent honor of being the record-holder in the UFC for most finishes and most submission victories. Even with that, ‘do Bronx’ needs to ensure that his wrestling defense is impeccable owing to the freakishly strong grappling prowess of his Dagestani opponent.
In a recent video posted by TheMacLife on YouTube, Oliveira can be seen drilling grappling exchanges from strong takedown positions. His training partner put steady pressure on him to take him down as the Brazilian maintained his balance and composure. The Brazilian even performed a subtle trip to finish the sequence.
Check out the video below:
Charles Oliveira’s wrestling coach shares bold prediction for upcoming fight against Islam Makhachev
Brazil has always had the deificiency of high-level wrestling trainers, which in turn prompts fighters from the region to pursue training outside the country. However, Charles Oliveira and his team at The Chute Box Academy have managed to fill the void by bringing in former Iranian MMA fighter Alireza Noei to help prepare the Brazilian for his fight against Islam Makhachev.
Noei hails from a region that is well renowned as the powerhouse of wrestling. He moved to Brazil with the hopes of making it into the national wrestling team for the 2016 Olympics, which unfortunately didn’t work out when the Brazilian wrestling federation failed to get paperwork done.
The eight-time Brazil national champion is currently training Charles Oliveira to hone his wrestling skills for his scheduled fight against Islam Makhachev.
Noei made a bold claim in a recent interview (Translated by MMA with Subtitles YouTube channel):
“When it comes to wrestling, he is a lot more grounded than other athletes. He’s strong because of that. I tried it [disabling the limbs to establish top-control] with Charles a lot now, but you can’t. I’ll tell you with Charles, you can’t stabilize him on the ground.”
Noei added:
“I think in that fight [vs. Islam Makhachev], Charles won’t fall. He won’t fall. Islam won’t be able to take Charles down.”
Check out the interview below: