Joe Rogan thinks newly-crowned UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev deserves every bit of credit that comes his way following his dominant submission win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 280.
Makhachev silenced his critics in convincing fashion after getting the better of Oliveira in virtually every aspect of the fight, including standup and grappling, which caught many fans by surprise.
Rogan, who watched the fight from home, was blown away by Makhachev’s performance and thinks the Khabib Nurmagomedov protege and American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) standout is ‘on another level’ than everyone else.
“Watching Islam (Makhachev) and Charles Oliveira, that was – what a fight that was,” Joe Rogan said on his podcast (h/t Low Kick MMA). “Islam Makhachev must have the most incredible squeeze, his squeeze must be out of this world. Because, you see how quick Charles tapped once he clamped that on him. I mean, whoof.”
“That dude is on another level. I mean, I am – he is the truth. I was always impressed with him, but I mean, I was saying, leading up to him getting a shot at the world title, he’s the boogeyman of that division (lightweight). He’s the guy that everyone was saying, he’s the most dominant of all the contenders. And then when he tapped (Drew) Dober, that was a big one, when he tapped Dan Hooker, that was a big one too.”
“It’s like the way he’s tapping these guys, who are these world class fighters, he’s just f*cking running through them,” he added. “But the fact that he got on Oliveira and mounted him, and then submitted him with an arm-triangle, head and arm choke like that. He submitted the guy with the most submissions in the history of the sport [the UFC]. And the way he did it, he’s so f*cking methodical and dominant – and Oliveira tested him, I mean he got out of bad positions in the first round, got back up to his feet, hit him with some good shots. But Makhachev, he’s the f*cking truth.”
Makhachev’s first title defense is expected to be against Alexander Volkanovski, the reigning UFC featherweight champion and current pound-for-pound No. 1. The Dagestani is aiming for more title defenses than Khabib as well as a second world title as he plans to move up in weight for a crack at the welterweight championship in the future.