“Honestly, I think it will be a difficult fight for Charles,” the American told Submission Radio. “When we fought with him, he did strange things – he wanted to transfer me so badly that he himself ended up on his back, and he had to defend himself. As for wrestling specifics, I still see a lot of holes in his game. In the rack, I did not have time to check it, no matter how strange it may sound now. Yes, I agree – he showed speed, timing, power, and I think that in the rematch he will do better than in the first fight, but I still believe that Makhachev is a very difficult opponent for him.
Also, Dariush, who was defeated by technical knockout in the first round, answered the question about what went wrong in the fight.
“I don’t want this to look like an excuse, but at some point I felt that my body was not listening to me, slowly reacting to everything. I saw everything, I knew what to do in order to be one step ahead, but I could not do it. Something was definitely wrong with the balance – I don’t remember the last time I kicked and slipped. I can’t explain it, but I just didn’t feel like myself.”
Having defeated the American fighter, Charles Oliveira became the main candidate for the fight with the Russian, who plans to defend his title on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.