“I remember Dana White telling me that Dustin Porier was out of his mind after his loss to Khabib and saying that no one else could have done to him what Khabib Nurmagomedov did,” Daniel Cormier said on another edition of his podcast. “Khabib’s power, his control and the way he manipulated his opponents in the parterre was unprecedented.”
“I think Islam Makhacheva has most of the same qualities. When he moves you into the parterre, it’s very similar to what Khabib did, but because Islam is better at striking, I think he’s even more dangerous than Khabib at his peak.”
After winning the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt against Charles Oliveira in October 2022, Islam Makhachev defended the title twice against Alexander Volkanovski last year and the Russian plans to put his belt on the line against Dustin Porier this June.