At UFC 311, Arman Tsarukyan believes he can drag Islam Makhachev into deep waters. A then-22 Tsarukyan gave him quite the trouble in the clinch the first time they met. Now, it’s a pure skill-to-skill, wrestle-heavy test between the two mountain men. At least, Israel Adesanya seems to think so.
There’s probably nothing more heartwarming than former rivals working together. Longtime rivals Adesanya and Robert Whittaker recently went viral training at CityKickboxing NZ premises. The pair of former 185-pound title challengers later got together for an in-depth breakdown of Saturday’s UFC 311 PPV. Izzy went on a tizzy and took a word out of the WWE’s book to describe the encounter.
His [Islam] striking is looking way more comfortable lately, …way more polished. Arman as well… He’s got nice kicks, good hands, very explosive. But yeah, it’s gonna be a wrestling fight. It’s gonna be WrestleMania!
Israel Adesanya on his Official Youtube Channel FREESTYLEBENDER (@FreeStylebender)
Speaking about the main event on his “FREESTYLEBENDER” channel, Adesanya highlighted how champion Makhachev has improved. Both his previous title scraps had a strike-heavy fight style. It made him rise the ranks up to the No.1 Men’s pound-for-pound in the new listings. The Dagestani does still boast dominant wrestling, though. He defended his title at the UFC 302 PPV with a thrilling fifth-round submission (D’Arce choke).
Izzy feels Arman Tsarukyan’s freestyle wrestling pedigree is a perfect stiff answer to it. He can also switch up to be explosive within the lean-in and match someone’s striking. “Ahalkalakets” also has a history with the current UFC 155-Pound champ from his 2019 short-notice showdown and can scope the dangers. Whittaker, though, sees Makhachev’s acute striking and exponential improvement as a big barrage.
Robert Whittaker lauds Islam Makhachev’s ‘significant’ striking development after UFC 294 win
Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) defends his lightweight title for a historic fourth time at UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome. Now the No. 1 seed for gold, Arman Tsarukyan impressed in his short-notice debut against Makhachev in April 2019. Meanwhile, former Top Pound-for-pound and featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski pushed him to the brink at UFC 284. However, it was veteran lightweight Dustin Poirier who gave him his stiffest test and even trained in anti-wrestling.
Islam Makhachev could show significant all-around skills at UFC 311 (Source: X)Speaking to Denis Shkuratov for the ‘Submission Radio’ Show for SBNation Network, coach Javier Mendez recently also affirmed as much, billing “Diamond” the toughest challenge. While infamous for his ground game, the 33-year-old outboxed with a perfect blend of striking clinic and wrestling leans.
For Whittaker, that’s a significant notion of improvement. One that he has been seeing since his dual-bid challenge against Volk. The second time around, Makhachev closed space against the Aussie kickboxing legend and KOed him with a shin kick.
The way he was striking with Volk over the two fights and then with his last fight on Poirier, I feel like there is a significant improvement in that break…Well, he’s always fought kind of very basic, right? …He’s just like real stand-up traditional kickboxing, but his timing and his eyesight has just gotten much better, his spacing has just gotten much better
Robert Whittaker via Israel Adesanya’s Official Youtube Channel FREESTYLEBENDER (@FreeStylebender)
“Reaper” already billed on his MMArcade Podcast that given his blend of prolific Pound-for-pound skillset, there’s a gap in this Makhachev vs. Arman Tsrukyan encounter. To him, cases like UFC 294 and 302 prove it just more.
Both Whittaker and Israel Adesanya agree that Tsarukyan is good too, but the champion has proven to be just another breed. On a 14-fight win streak and with his fifth fight-night bonus, he’s the “it” man at lightweight if it does not go the wrestling way.
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