Today at UFC Long Island, the promotion announced a massive fight that will go down in October. On the ABC broadcast, the promotion announced that former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (33-8, 1 NC) will take on Islam Makhachev (22-1) for the vacant lightweight title in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi card goes down on October 22nd at UFC 280 and pairs the two best lightweights in the UFC. Also in this fight, we will see two men take each other on and both will carry massive winning streaks into the octagon. For Islam Makhachev, he will be carrying in a ten-fight winning streak.
The last time we saw Makhachev was back in February when he took on Bobby Green in a UFC Fight Night main event. Makhachev did what he had to do and he ran through Bobby Green. Nobody has even been competitive with the Khabib protege. Makhachev continues to look better and better and he can present some serious problems for Do Bronx.
UFC Lightweight Champion
Let’s be completely honest here, the UFC lightweight champion is vacant, but everyone knows who the lightweight champion is. The lightweight champion is Charles Oliveira. Oliveira was given a massively raw deal at UFC 274 when he took on Justin Gaethje. At the weigh-ins, Oliveira came in .5 pounds overweight.
Had this fight been in Vegas, they would’ve marked him at 155. But a weight stickler in Arizona essentially stripped Oliveira of his title. Nevertheless, Oliveira still went out there and did what he had to do. Do Bronx submitted Justin Gaethje which marked his third straight submission victory.
In his last three fights, Oliveira has finished Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, and Dustin Poirier. Simply put, Oliveira is the best lightweight in the world and he should be carrying in the UFC’s lightweight title. However, this fight will serve as just another opportunity for him to prove that he’s the best in the world.