Islam Makhachev Taps Charles Oliveira In The Second Round To Become The NEW Lightweight Champion
What an awesome main event, and main card in general.
Islam Makhachev just submitted Charles Oliveira - the man with the most submissions in UFC history - to win the UFC Lightweight Championship on Fight Island, proving everything that Coach Khabib has been telling us for years has been correct.
He tapped Oliveira with a head-and-arm triangle in the second round after rocking him (for the second time in the fight), and honestly, he made it look easy. Makhachev showed off his strength/power/dominance/control in the first round and did it all with confidence. Even his striking looked great tonight. He basically did everything we already knew he was capable of, but did it against the best in the world, which obviously brings it to a whole new level.
After the fight, Khabib got on the mic like he's Islam Makhachev's promoter and called out Alexander Volkanovski on Islam's behalf, and said they want the fight in Volk's backyard - Australia. Volkanovski then got into the octagon and respectfully accepted, and I gotta tell ya - it was pretty awesome.
Charles Oliveira looked absolutely devastated afterwards, and understandably so. Makhachev just broke his 11-fight win streak and did it with ease, provoking zero interest in an immediate rematch. It's a shame because I feel like Oliveira was just starting to get his respect as champ, but this sport just moves on so quickly.
Hasbulla was also in Makhachev's corner and went live on Instagram when he won....
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I know some people have turned on Hasbulla and don't like him now but he still cracks me up. Sue me.
Overall, I had a great time watching the fights this afternoon - even if this card didn't quite live up to the "event of the year" expectations. I think daytime fights are the absolute best and I hope they do even more daytime cards in the future.
Now we've got the Madison Square Garden card to look forward to next….