Islam Makhachev doesn’t speak in wishful, hopeful terms. Instead, he uses declarative statements, as if the future has already been written and all he needs to do is continue moving forward down the path to his destiny.
Because they’re offered in a soft, measured tone rather than shouted with moxie and panache, they don’t reverberate as loudly as the “here’s what’s going to happen” addresses of some of his contemporaries, but he believes them with just as much conviction; perhaps even more.
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“I think if I finish my opponent, people have to understand where my levels are, how I’m better than all the fighters from my division,” he says from a hotel room in Abu Dhabi, where this weekend, the fifth-ranked lightweight squares off with Dan Hooker in a highly anticipated clash in the 155-pound weight class.
He’s reflecting on his victory over Thiago Moises in July — a fourth-round submission finish; his second consecutive stoppage win after a pair of hard-fought decisions, and the exact type of performance he said he would have when we spoke prior to that contest.
“I have to finish this guy because I have to show my skills,” he told me a couple of days before stepping into the Octagon with Moises and extending his winning streak to eight. “I have to show people that I am on a different level.”
Just as he did in his bout with Drew Dober earlier in the year, the quiet, but confident Makhachev made his point loud and clear, dominating every grappling exchange with the talented Brazilian before finally securing the finish midway through the fourth round.
“I respect Thiago Moises, my last opponent, but I think people understand now,” says Makhachev, smiling from his hotel room as we speak over Zoom. “He’s a good grappler, a black belt in jiu jitsu, but my grappling level, my grappling game is on a different level.”
Makhachev and his team have known that for quite some time, long viewing the 30-year-old standout, whose record stands at 20-1 overall, as the one to follow in the footsteps of Khabib Nurmagomedov, his long-time friend and teammate and the former UFC lightweight champion, who announced his retirement one year ago Sunday following a second-round submission win over Justin Gaethje.