Eddie Alvarez is confident Arman Tsarukyan can beat Islam Makhachev after witnessing the lightweight champion’s latest title defence.
Alvarez was in attendance at UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where Makhachev faced Dustin Poirier for the lightweight belt in the main event. A heavily underdog, Poirier exceeded expectations by giving Makhachev a tough fight before succumbing to a Bravo choke in the final round. Makhachev’s path to the title may seem similar to that of his teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Alvarez believes the reigning champion is more likely to lose than “The Eagle.”
“Khabib’s greatness was he never fought halfway. Khabib never fought far away or suffocated his opponent. He never put himself in danger. So he was either on top of his opponent and suffocating him so he couldn’t breathe or he was far away so he could never get hit. He was great at that. He was. And he never got seriously injured in a fight,” Alvarez said on “The MMA Hour.”
“Islam is different. He plays more in the mid-round, he takes more risks. He goes for submissions more, he goes for the finish. So he puts himself at more risk than Khabib. So he’s more likely to lose than Khabib.”
Tsarukyan was originally offered a title fight against Makhachev after defeating Charles Oliveira in a title eliminator at UFC 300 in April. However, after losing on short notice in his UFC debut against Makhachev, Tsarukyan declined the rematch, citing the short notice. Tsarukyan, who is Armenian-Russian, is currently the No. 1 ranked lightweight contender and is most likely to get another title shot. Following Makhachev’s performance at UFC 302, Alvarez is confident Tsarukyan will dethrone the champion.
Alvarez noted that the Dagestan champion is used to completely dominating his opponents in wrestling, and that the only time Makhachev had difficulty beating an opponent, it was a very close bout. Alvarez is confident that “Akhalkalakez,” with his elite wrestling background, will beat Makhachev in a match the champion likely doesn’t want.
“Arman is going to beat him. I predicted that right after the fight,” Alvarez said. “You look at who Khabib has fought. Everybody that Khabib has defended against had what I would call a clear grappling advantage. The difference in grappling advantage was huge. And he dominated those guys, never risking being stopped, never risking not getting a takedown, never taking the advantage.
“Islam had to deal with that a little bit and you see it went the other way when he had his guy on the ground and he wasn’t in control… So I think Armand has the wrestling experience so he can stop the blows and maybe he can take Islam down a little bit. Islam is not a hammer the whole time in the match. We’ll have to see how they deal with that. They are always a hammer. Always a hammer… I don’t know if they want that match, but I don’t think they want that match.”
