Islam Makhachev Steps Out of Khabib's Shadow and Sets Own Mark at UFC 280

What happens when you finish the greatest finisher in the history of MMA?

Lots of things. For starters, you win a UFC title. Secondly, you create your own legacy, one that defines itself in years instead of months. And finally, if you’re Islam Makhachev, you step out of the shadow of your legendary mentor and cement yourself as your own legend, an athlete and fighter in full.

Saturday at UFC 280, Makhachev captured the vacant UFC lightweight championship by submitting the great Charles Oliveira at 3:16 of the second round. Despite his status as only a slight betting favorite, Makhachev dominated the contest from pillar to post. Oliveira, who holds the UFC records for most finishes (19) and submissions (16), was never really in the fight.

With coach, friend and retired lightweight GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner, Makhachev wrote another chapter in the ongoing saga of MMA greats from Russia’s Dagestan region.

“I always figured this was not going to be an easy fight,” Makhachev told broadcaster Daniel Cormier in the cage after the fight. “Because [Oliveira] always pushes his opponent. But I knew he was gonna be wary of my wrestling skills. That’s why I cannot be pushed too much.”

Indeed. One of the things fans love most about Oliveira (33-9 [1]) is his instinctive willingness to dive directly into the belly of the beast—and then find a way to pull victory out of the fire. For example, he did it fairly recently when he chose to bang with knockout artists like Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, and managed to get stoppages both times. That seemed to be his strategy in the first round against Makhachev, when during an early clinch he appeared to drag the Dagestani down to the canvas and into his guard.

It didn’t work out for him. Oliveira hunted for a choke and then a leg lock, but Makhachev was implacable from the top. The action eventually returned to the feet, but Makhachev used a nifty toss to get the fight back to the mat, which is where the round ended. According to UFC stats, Makhachev controlled 3:48 of the five-minute round, landing 12 significant strikes to Oliveira’s six. That’s what they call a dominant 10-9 round.

In its opening moments, the second round felt like it might favor Oliveira. As the action played out on the feet, Oliveira marched forward, firing punches and kicks but not landing anything of consequence.

Clearly preoccupied with Makhachev’s takedown threat, Oliveira was taking a visibly more conservative approach to the standup game than fans are used to seeing from Do Bronx.

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Makhachev took advantage. Instead, it was he who was landing the bigger shots, including a sharp one-two combination that appeared to stun Oliveira.

With roughly two minutes remaining in the second stanza, Makhachev dropped Oliveira with a right hook, and the ex-champ appeared stunned. Makhachev fought through up kicks and jumped into Oliveira’s half guard. From there he immediately locked on an arm-triangle choke. Once he passed half guard and reached full side control, the torque was on in earnest, and the squeeze of Makhachev was simply too much. Oliveira quickly tapped, and a new champion was minted.

What was it like to submit the UFC’s submission king?

“I always said this was my goal,” Makhachev told Cormier matter-of-factly.

Makhachev then dedicated his win to Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, his former coach and Khabib’s father, who died in 2020 from complications related to COVID-19, as Khabib stood downcast in the background.

Khabib Nurmagomedov coaches Islam Makhachev (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

But it went beyond just that bit of symmetry. Statistics are not the be-all and end-all in MMA, but they sure can tell a story sometimes, and they certainly told one here. The new champion outstruck the former champion 30-19, with a sky-high accuracy rate of 73 percent compared with 48 percent for Oliveira. He landed 2-of-3 takedowns—right in line with his career 65 percent success rate, also extremely high. Makhachev managed more than a full round’s worth of control time with 5:05 total; Oliveira checked in with 0:42.

Make no mistake: This was pure dominance, the kind fans expected from Nurmagomedov but not for Makhachev, protégé or no. Makhachev appeared to lack the dynamism, aggression, offensive tool kit and pure meanness that made his mentor the greatest at what he did at 155 pounds. Plenty of people, myself included, pointed to his weak strength of schedule, punctuated by good-not-great names like Bobby Green and Dan Hooker. While Makhachev dominated lesser competition, Oliveira was gun-slinging with the likes of Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson.

But here, at age 31 and now with a record of 23-1 and an 11-fight UFC win streak, Makhachev has established himself as an active great in the UFC.

So what does the future hold for the new champ? Let’s let Nurmagomedov tell the story, as he jumped on the mic post-fight to offer some ideas.

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

“Now it’s our plan to fly all the way to Australia and fight the pound-for-pound king Alex Volkanovski,” Nurmagomedov said. “You know we’re going to finish this guy.”

Volkanovski is, of course, the reigning featherweight champ, but has designs on the lightweight belt as well. UFC president Dana White has indicated a willingness to pit Volkanovski against Saturday’s winner.

So, we shall see. But for now, Makhachev can be secure with his place in the MMA hierarchy—independent of his friend and mentor Nurmagomedov—after finishing maybe the best finisher in the history of the entire sport. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.