“There will be more risk for Islam in the rematch,” the UFC Hall of Fame member told Gorilla Fighting. “If Oliveira had some concerns in the first fight, now he has nothing to lose, he was already losing.”
“I think for both of them this fight will not be easy. I think if you compare it to the first fight, the second fight will be more difficult for Islam – that’s my purely personal opinion.”
Last October at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, Islam Makhachev won the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt by finishing Charles Oliveira with an arm-triangle choke in the second round, and in February of this year, the Russian fighter made his first successful title defense, winning a unanimous decision over Alexander Volkanovski.
The second clash between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will headline UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on October 21.