Charles Oliveira can become the best UFC lightweight fighter of all time with a win over Islam Makhachev, as per Michael Bisping.
Oliveira is set to take on Makhachev for the vacant title in the main event of UFC 280 this Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He goes into the bout on an impressive 11-fight win streak that has seen him finish Michael Chandler and former interim champions Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.
Michael Bisping says Charles Oliveira will be the GOAT if he beats Islam Makhachev
In a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, Bisping shared that Oliveira would be the greatest fighter of all time, ahead of undefeated former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, if he comes out on top of his upcoming fight with Makhachev.
“Is Charles Oliveira, in fact, the greatest lightweight of all time? Because he might just be. It all depends on what happens in Abu Dhabi.”
“Greatest lightweight of all time? I think if Charles beats Islam this weekend, I think that belongs to Charles now. I really do. I think he will have surpassed him simply because he’s taken out all the top contenders. And it’s not Khabib’s fault, but you cannot deny the numbers, the momentum, the history that Oliveira’s making.”
Bisping questioned if Khabib would’ve beaten Oliveira
‘The Count’ made the case for the retired Dagestani fighter to be the 155-pound GOAT. He believes Khabib stepped away from the sport too soon and questioned if he would have been able to beat the top contenders of today, including Oliveira.
“All we ever saw was him win and dominate people, but he retired at 32 years old after three title defenses and two-and-a-half-years as champion of the world,” Bisping said via MMA Junkie. “That’s fantastic, but if he had stuck around longer, would we have seen him lose the belt? Would we have seen him get challenged? We’ll never know, and that is one of the real arguments for Khabib not being the pound-for-pound No. 1. …
“The reality is, the reason we ask the question is because he didn’t stick around long enough. And we know why. It was a very honorable reason. He made a promise to his mother, and he stuck to that. Wow, what a guy. I respect that so much. But would he have beaten all these top new contenders? He’d have beaten some of them, but would he have beaten Charles? We don’t know. We can only imagine.”
While we may never get to see Oliveira and Khabib compete against each other inside the octagon, a win over Makhachev would certainly help boost Oliveira’s case as the best lightweight fighter of all time.
